Ornamental grasses differ in appearance from ordinary wild varieties. The only function of this herb is aesthetic. These plants create beauty in a summer cottage and an original landscape. Ornamental cereal grasses create variety in texture and shape in the garden, making it brighter and richer. Herbs of different heights allow you to add novelty and originality to the traditional garden design.

Ornamental grass for the garden is a godsend for those who are looking for a way to improve the appearance of their plot and make it more voluminous. These plants have many advantages: independence from the season, resistance to winds and bad weather, droughts and heavy rains, low level of susceptibility to diseases and pests. Ornamental grass looks harmonious in different areas - flower beds, rose gardens, natural gardens, gravel areas, near ponds. This is a fairly large group of plants. We will introduce you to some of them today.

tall grass

These plants are widespread in the autumn-winter period. The decorative plantarium is ideal for the cold season. This is a plant with thin and tall fluffy branches. It has a delicate structure that gives even a sad autumn landscape the desired charm.

Chinese miscanthus also feels great in the cold. It grows up to 2.7 meters in length and has plump feathers and graceful stems. This ornamental grass can compensate for the emptiness of the landscape in the cold season.

Pennisetum bristles

This is a tropical plant, but with proper care it can feel as comfortable as in its homeland. Its height is 70-130 cm. Pennisetum has crimson flowers and many sharp thorns, which gradually change to softer fruits of burgundy or purple color. Its leaves are also burgundy.

Sheep

Another ornamental grass that is suitable for the cooler months. The height of the plant is less than two meters. Prefers open, sun-filled spaces. Under these conditions, the ewe shows off its showy blue leaves.

Uniola latifolia

The pod seeds of the ornamental grass uniola resemble oats in appearance. The plant belongs to the group of cold ornamental grasses. Even after it fades, uniola still decorates the dull autumn landscape of the garden.

Short grass

Short ornamental grasses, photos of which you can see in our article, are Liriope muscariformes. Its height rarely reaches one meter.

The plant loves good soil and frequent watering. Tolerates partial shade well. This grass should be fed with fertilizers (organic). This plant is very attractive in appearance - it is decorated with interesting pointed flowers of a wide variety of colors.

Black mondo

This is an unusual look that will certainly attract attention with its original “color” of black. Its height is 15-20 cm. It goes well with the greenish-yellow or golden leaves of other plants.

Blue fescue

This ornamental grass tolerates drought well. It complements well any composition with grass and flowers, both in a bouquet and in a flowerbed.

Hakonechloa major

An amazing golden ornamental grass that prefers to grow in the shade. It grows quickly and fluffs up impressively with long leaves. On average it reaches a height of about 30 cm.

Decorative climbing grass

The most popular method of landscaping is decorating garden plots with climbing plants.

Lianas are rightfully considered the most spectacular climbing plants. They have long shoots, beautiful greenery and magnificent flowers. Using hooks and antennae, they are able to rise to great heights, forming luxurious green flowering walls or individual spots on the support.

Decorative climbing grass with flowers that have a delicate and pleasant aroma is often found. The indisputable advantages of these plants include the ability to achieve a decorative effect in a short time and decorate the territory of a garden or cottage with flowers and greenery. Landscape designers are sure that vertical gardening is necessary.

Curly ornamental grass for the garden can be used to decorate columns and arches, construct green pyramids, and decorate various garden buildings.

Clematis Arabella

This spectacular plant needs support and a sunny area. It will feel good on the gazebo with regular and abundant watering. Star-shaped flowers are not only beautiful, but also have an exquisite aroma. With proper pruning, flowering can last the entire summer season.

The flowers are small, painted in a delicate lilac-blue hue. The plant can be a ground cover, planted under low bushes, but it looks more impressive on a low obelisk.

morning glory

This is one of the most unpretentious annual climbing grasses. It must be planted in a pot, not forgetting to moisten the soil, and you will very quickly notice active growth, and soon delicate flowers with a delicate aroma will appear.

Nasturtium

This plant is suitable when you want to add freshness and warm shades to the design of your site. These annual plants are well tolerated in mid-latitudes and require plenty of water before flowering and a sunny location. Nasturtium grows up to 2 meters long, so it is suitable for decorating a gazebo or well.

Aubert's Highlander

This plant has many advantages. It easily tolerates partial shade and is not susceptible to attack by pests.

Sweet pea

Another climbing annual plant that will decorate any area with bright flowers and a delicate aroma. It blooms for more than four months.

Decorative beans

Designers use this plant to create a bright background in floral arrangements. Unlike sweet peas, beans do not like frost, so it is best to plant them in May.

Ornamental grasses and cereals

There are no clear canons for use in the landscape. They can be used to create arrays, group plantings of different species, combined use with shrubs, perennial and annual flowers.

Cereal grasses are also perfect for those who prefer a Moorish lawn in their summer cottage. Reed grass, pennisetum, and feather grass look especially good in decorative groups. They go well with coniferous shrubs. Even a slight vibration of the air creates the illusion of movement, and their pleasant rustle soothes and pacifies.

In the massifs, pike, cortaderia, and fescue look more advantageous. Borders made from these grasses are quite impressive - their lightness and airiness do not create roughness in the planting.

Cereals remain decorative throughout the year. Even in winter, under a layer of snow, they enliven the garden. They should be pruned in early spring. Cereals can be sown in open ground or grown as seedlings. Mature bushes divide without problems and take root well.

Decorative artificial grass

Owners of their own houses arrange the surrounding area to create the best conditions for recreation for the whole family. Do not forget that the more complex and rich in plants the landscape is, the more difficult it is to care for it.

This problem will be solved by a decorative one that is low maintenance. In this case, we recommend that you lay artificial turf in some areas, which looks no less beautiful, but it will require a little effort from the owners when laying and maintaining it.

Don’t go too far and line the entire area with artificial grass. In this case, the design will be too primitive. In small quantities, this alternative is very appropriate, especially where the grass for some reason does not want to grow.

Many people know that living grass does not tolerate constant walking on it - as a result, bald spots appear. And artificial turf can easily cope with such a load. Decorative artificial grass can be used to decorate open parking areas, combining it with road tiles, patio areas and a swimming pool.

In areas near buildings where the ground is in shade all day, natural grass appears pale and thin because it does not receive enough light. It is better to cover these areas with artificial.

Important Details

When choosing such a coating, make sure that it is made by a reputable company from high-quality and safe materials. The coating should not have an unpleasant odor. Poor quality painting of the “grass” and other defects are unacceptable.

Grass in the interior

Decorative grass has been used for home interiors for a long time. The optimal place in an apartment to keep these plants is a window sill. In addition, herbs planted in a container look great on a shelf near a window or on the walls.

Such as thyme or sage not only look very beautiful, but also fill the air with pleasant smells.

Green or purple basil is very beautiful and has a pleasant aroma that changes your mood for the better.

Ecostyle - modern trends

Natural grass covering in the interior is very popular in Europe today. Since it is quite difficult to care for live grass in an apartment, artificial ornamental grass is becoming widespread. A path that imitates a lawn is the simplest solution. In addition, original furniture appeared, as if overgrown with grass. Another modern solution is grass on the roof of the house.

The space of your home, in which decorative grasses “settle”, will change, it will come to life, and gain originality.

Kolyuchnik: description and photo

Kolyuchnik is most often a biennial rather than a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the Asteraceae family - Compositae Giseke (Asteraceae Dumort). The above-ground part of the plant consists of many prickly leaves, notched along the edges, cobwebby-pubescent at the bottom and pinnately dissected in a rosette. Directly inside the leaf rosette with a diameter of 40-50 cm there is a large basket-inflorescence with a diameter of about 12 cm, surrounded by a crown of rough involucre leaves of a silvery-white color. Some leaf segments of different sizes. In the very middle of the basket there are many reddish, yellow or white tubular flowers. The thornweed is also known as spinyleaf. It begins to bloom closer to autumn, namely from the second half of summer to the first days of October. It is found both on plains and in mountains at altitudes up to 2600 m. For example, on poor soils of the Jura Mountains and in some places on steppe slopes stemless thorn is still quite common. But, like some other plants, it became close to extinction, therefore, in order to avoid this fate, it was taken under protection. It grows wild in the subalpine and alpine zones of Eastern, Neutral and Southern Europe, for example, spiny fox can be found in Ukraine in the Carpathians, in Belarus in dry glades and meadows in low-mountain and high-mountain parts at an altitude of more than 1000m.

Collection and preparation of thorns

Thornweed is also grown at home. He loves sunny places with sandy-loamy, dry and not very nutritious soil. It is better not to transplant it from place to place and not to disturb it again; it can be propagated in the spring by sowing seeds - the seeds will germinate in about a month and a half. The long taproot of the plant and its aerial part are used for medicinal purposes. The root can be dug up in late autumn. For storage, it is washed from dirt, rotten or damaged parts are removed, cut crosswise into small pieces about 3-4 cm thick and dried in a special dryer at temperatures up to 60°C or under a canopy where there is access to fresh air.

Useful and medicinal properties of thorn

The main active elements of thorn are tannins along with tannin, inulin, (12-18%) and resins, as well as the essential oil (1-2%) contained in the root, which has good antibacterial properties.

The use of thorn in folk medicine

Used as a spasmodic, diuretic, anti-inflammatory and diaphoretic for kidney disease; in veterinary medicine it is used to remove worms; promotes the release of phlegm from the lungs during bronchitis. Externally helps with wounds, boils and skin diseases. Bulgarian folk medicine prescribes spiny root as a decoction for colds, dropsy, pain and inflammation in the bladder and kidneys, hemorrhoids, skin lichens, skin rashes, worms and tapeworms, for nervous exhaustion, seizures and loss of strength. The extract of the aerial part of the spiny fox is included in the drops used to treat gastric hyposecretion. The extract is active against cancer cells and staphylococcus.

Folk recipes from thorn

Thornberry tincture: raw materials are prepared at the rate of 1:10, 2-3 times a day, 15-20 drops and water infusion: 15-30 g of dry crushed root, pour 0.5 liters of boiling water (the dose is calculated for 2 days).

Thorn decoction: For external rinsing, the decoction is prepared as follows: 50 g of chopped root is boiled for about 20 minutes with 0.5 liters of water.

Thorn tea: 2 tsp The root is placed in 1/4 cold water, gradually brought to a boil, boiled for 15 minutes and filtered. Drink moderately warm, 1-3 times a day, a cup of sweetened honey (for bronchial catarrh) or without anything.

Contraindications to the use of thorn

Not found. Individual intolerance.

Side effects and effects of thornweed

Rarely, nausea and vomiting may occur in case of overdose.

Dandelion officinalis

Known to many dandelion officinalis also known by the Latin name Taraxacum officinale Web., belongs to the Asteraceae (Compositae) family. People call it by different names, but most often they use the following names: milkweed, kulbaba, spurge, baldhead, milky flower, butter flower, toothroot, toothroot, pustuduy, baldberry, powder puff, Russian chicory, cotton grass and others.

Biennial oslinnik (evening primrose)

Biennial oslinnik (evening primrose) also known by the Latin name Oenothera biennis L., belongs to the fireweed family (Onagraceae). It is believed that the name of the species owes its origin to two Greek words: oinos - meaning wine, and ther - wild animals, while explaining the intoxicating effect of this plant on animals. Among the popular names you can find such as evening star, evening color, candle holder, summer star, night candle, salad root, night violet, night lamp and others.

Landscape design is the artificial creation of a landscape with maximum naturalness, where grasses play a key role. Only with their help can you balance the riot of colors in your yard. The names and photos of ornamental grasses for flower beds given here will help you determine the maximum height that adult plants reach, because this factor is fundamental in determining the zones for planting.

Ornamental grasses - noble modesty

To decorate courtyards, cereal crops are used, which can enhance and smooth out the brightness of a flower bed or add a special charm by performing solo. There are creeping, low, medium and tall specimens, reaching 2–3 meters in height.

Low grasses for the foreground of the flower bed

Low grasses elegantly complement any flowerbed, giving it a natural look. Most spread quickly, so they can be contained by planting in metal containers without a bottom or by making metal fences dug into the ground.

Photos and names of herbs for the flower bed:

Gray fescue reaches 20–50 cm. Its bluish hummocks are often decorated with compositions of stones and boulders, and are also chosen as an addition to shrubs. An excellent ground cover plant, neat islands of which bloom in the summer. Unpretentious to soil type, loves sunny places. Frost-resistant.

Fescue creates neat islands

Keleria comb– forms hummocks up to 40 cm high. It blooms in mid-summer with purple spikelets. Unpretentious, but prefers sunny places. Drought-resistant, not afraid of frost.

Inflorescences in the form of panicles at the celleria

(pike) - grows from 30 to 60 cm. Forms hummocks of narrow leaves of bright color. Unpretentious to the choice of soil and drought-resistant. Winterizes easily.

The tortuous meadow has a rich color

Thin-legged gray- an evergreen grass, the height of the grass is 10 cm, and the inflorescences are 25 cm. The leaves have a greenish-gray tint. Prefers sunny places, is unpretentious and frost-resistant.

Thin-legged blue-gray is a wonderful companion for tall plants

Tall handsome men - a chic addition to the landscape

Many ornamental grasses for flower beds are represented by tall specimens, the use of which is possible not only in a joint composition, but also independently. The expanding hummocks are most attractive during summer flowering, and in autumn and winter they will enchant with their colorful beauty.

Turf meadow(pike) reaches a height of 100–150 cm. It creates hummocks from many thin, long and rough leaves. Summer inflorescences are tall panicles of a silver or bronze hue. Pike comes from Russia, so it easily adapts to any territory, is unpretentious to soil and watering, and is also frost-resistant. Wakes up early after winter.

Soddy pike is beautiful during flowering

Canary(double-source reed) grows up to 90 to 120 cm. It is often chosen to refresh a green background, as it has white or beige veins. It prefers fertile soil, but is unpretentious, so it will grow in any area. Even during frost it does not droop the stems. It grows very quickly. Wakes up early after winter.

Low border made of canary grass

It has elegant and graceful stems reaching 150 cm. It becomes most decorative in the fall, when purple inflorescences appear. It grows slowly, but is unpretentious, drought-resistant, and can withstand cold.

Blue moth inflorescences sway gracefully in the wind

Miscanthus– the most common decorative grass used by designers. Different species reach from 80 to 200 cm. Miscanthus is chosen for its original foliage, which creates the appearance of a fountain. A very strong plant that can become an independent accent in the garden. Prefers sunny planting locations and moist soil. Frost-resistant. Photos of this grass for a flower bed confirm its royal status.

Miscanthus can act as an independent accent

Conditions and secrets of growing ornamental cereals

There is a conditional division of cereals into three groups:

Prefers dry places.
Loving soil moisture.
Grown near water or in marshy areas.

The first two types are chosen specifically for decorating the yard, and the third looks good near artificial reservoirs and ponds. All the cereals considered are perennial and are easy to care for. You don't need to add anything to the soil to plant them. During extreme heat, it is important to keep the plant from drying out by watering occasionally.

Cereals look great near the water

When choosing, it is necessary to take into account periods of active growth and types of crops:

thermophilic ones are active in the summer;
those growing in the cold season wake up early after winter, go into a dormant state in the summer, and grow again in the fall.

It is according to these criteria that you need to choose a place for plants in the yard. This knowledge will allow you to enjoy the luxurious landscape from early spring until frost. Evergreen species will decorate the winter landscape. Their use is convenient even for novice gardeners.

Among the great variety of ornamental plants, there is always a group that unusually stuns the gardener’s imagination with its exquisite and strange beauty. I undoubtedly include carlina among such plants. For our flower growers, its other name is more familiar - thorny.

Scientists disagree about the origin of the name. Some believe that the Latin name of the genus is derived from the name of the Frankish emperor, Charlemagne. According to legend, during the plague that struck his troops, an angel appeared to him and pointed to this plant as a remedy that could ward off disaster. There is also an opinion that this name comes from an affectionate derivative of the maiden name Karla. It is no secret that many decorative flowers in our beautiful gardens came to us from afar - from Asia, America and even from mysterious Tibet. And, undoubtedly, not all of them have relatives in our regions. However, the thorntail has such relatives. This is Bieberstein's thorn, familiar to all creators of rockeries and rocky hills, although, unfortunately, this plant is a biennial.

Of the almost 20 species of this plant known in Europe, Asia and North America, perhaps only stemless thorn can be found in our area. The perennial herbaceous dwarf, distinguished by its bizarrely exotic appearance, is somewhat reminiscent of spiny starfish and can become a real pearl of any rockery. This plant has been known in cultivation since 1561. Found in Western Europe, Belarus and Western Ukraine. Grows in dry meadows, hillsides, mountain meadows and glades. For example, in the Jura Mountains in Western Europe, on poor soils and here and there on steppe slopes, thorn is still quite common. The main medicinal substances of the plant are essential oil with antibacterial action of carlin oxide, tannins and resins.

On poor soils, the thorn forms a squat ground rosette, which is how it got its name - stemless. However, in our garden conditions, it most often takes the form of a low, up to 25-30 cm, bush, consisting of many individual rosettes. The leaves of the thorn are pinnately dissected, on top they are dark green with a bluish gloss, and below they are pubescent silver. And very prickly - each tip of the dissected leaf is crowned with a thorn. The leaves of this plant are very prominent. Starting from the second, and more often the third year of life, almost every rosette bears a beautiful flower - dry and also prickly. The leaves are initially silver in color and the flowers are barely purple in color, but as the seeds ripen they become grey-golden. Soon the seeds will fluff up and leave the middle of the basket, revealing a smooth, light bottom bed. If the flower is picked before its full ripening, the seeds with shaggy tufts do not spill out and give a contrasting softness to the prickly basket. So they can lie until next season. At the same time, immature flower baskets that have left their native bush before the time, often in the fall, and usually in the spring, take on a warm golden brown color. Flowers remain on the plant until the leaves die after the onset of cold weather.

Undoubtedly, a very strange plant in a good way - no bright color of the flower, no smell (at least for humans), no special delights in the color of the foliage... But there is something in this flower that simply attracts you to it different seasons - an expert's view. An interesting feature of seemingly dry, hard and lifeless flowers is their “phobia of water” - in cloudy weather, on the eve of rain, the baskets close. They are also closed at night - obviously to protect against dew... The size of flower baskets can be very varied, in the literature I found a reference to the maximum - up to 12 cm.

The philatelic industry did not ignore the carlina either, along with beautiful roses and lilies, the prickly beauty was honored to be included on Soviet and Czech stamps.

Thanks to its powerful taproot, the plant “moves” to new settlements with little effort, but if necessary, with a large earthen lump, the transplantation ends painlessly. The frost resistance of thorns is excellent, except that in warm and humid winters it should be protected from excess moisture. The plant propagates by rosettes and seeds, which are sown in boxes in February - May. When sowing in winter, boxes with seeds are placed under the snow. Seedlings with two or three true leaves are grown in deep flower pots and planted in a permanent place in September. Young plants bloom in the 2-3rd year. Vegetative propagation by rosettes is best carried out in greenhouse conditions from mid-May to mid-June. Carlina takes root in 20-30 days, after which the plant is planted in a permanent place. You can divide the plants early in the spring: in late April - early May or in the second half of August. Carlina can live in one place for about seven years.

In conclusion, I would like to note that immediately after the flowers open, the carlina becomes the main character of the garden, attracting a great many butterflies. They, in turn, trying to get to the stamens, fly up every now and then, bumping into prickly leaves and hard wrappers of the flower basket. I noticed that the thorn bush often serves as shelter for lizards. Truly, it will both feed and shelter - this is such a hospitable plant. And only among the white snow will the carlina flowers be “lost” in the winter garden.

Svetlana Seregina
Photo by the author

Stemless thorny plant, or thornleaf (lat. Carlina Acaulis) is a perennial herbaceous plant of the Asteraceae family. The pharmaceutical name of the plant is thorn roots (Carlinae radix). The thorn is fixed in the soil with the help of a long taproot with a strongly shortened wrinkled stem extending from it, branching at the base and bearing several rosettes of leaves that lie on the surface of the ground. The leaves are from 5 to 15 centimeters long, they are dense, coarsely pinnately dissected with needle-toothed projections and pronounced veins, covered with woolly hairs. The color of the leaves is grayish-gray.

On a leaf rosette sits a basket-shaped inflorescence, which has a length of 6 to 12 centimeters and is surrounded by a crown of coarse silver-white involucre leaves. In the center of the basket there are many tubular flowers of white, reddish or yellow color. The flowering period of the stemless thorn is July-September. Before rain, in fog, and also at dusk, the flowers of the spiny leaf close. Its fruits are fluffy achenes.

Stemless thorn grows in dry meadows, on hillsides, as well as in mountainous and flat areas of the Alpine region, at an altitude of approximately 2600 meters. In the Jurassic Mountains and on the steppe slopes, this plant is considered common, but it is an endangered species, as a result of which the thorn is taken under protection and listed in the Red Book. It can also be grown as an ornamental plant.

Harvesting and storage of thorns

The raw materials of stemless thorn are its root and aerial part (stem). The time for root harvesting is late autumn. After the root has been dug, it must be washed from the soil, cut crosswise into pieces of 3-4 centimeters and dried in special dryers, the temperature of which reaches 60 degrees, or in the open air with shading from direct sunlight.

Composition and medicinal properties of stemless thorn

The roots of the stemless thorny plant contain up to 22% inulin polysaccharide, up to 2.1% essential oil with a predominance of carlinoxide (about 80%), bitterness and tannins, as well as resins and alkaloids. The aerial part of the plant contains flavonoids (apigenin glycosides), cardiac glycosides, saponins and other beneficial substances.
The stemless thorn is used in medicine as a remedy.
Thorn preparations have anti-inflammatory, carminative, antipyretic, diaphoretic and diuretic effects, and in large doses they are a laxative and emetic.
Immortal thorn is included in Bittner's balm, which has a very wide spectrum of action, which is due to the content of many medicinal plants (24 species).
The plant stem extract is included in the drops that are used in the treatment of gastric hyposecretion, since it stimulates the secretion of gastric juice. The extract is also active against staphylococcus and cancer cells.
It has an expectorant effect, so it is recommended to drink tea brewed from thorn roots for people suffering from chronic bronchitis. In addition, it is also drunk for diseases of the bladder and kidneys, dropsy and urinary retention. The tea has an aromatic smell and a bitter-sweet, almond taste.
Thorn is used externally for skin diseases: dermatitis, lichen, eczema. Also used for wound healing.
In veterinary medicine, the plant is used as an anthelmintic.
A decoction of thorn root is prescribed for colds, hemorrhoids, nervous exhaustion and general loss of strength.

The use of stemless thorn in folk medicine

Treatment of chronic bronchitis, dropsy and urinary retention

Drink one cup of warm herbal tea from stemless thorn root one to three times a day. To prepare it, you need to pour one or two heaped teaspoons of dry root with a quarter glass of cold water and, slowly bringing to a boil, boil for just a few minutes, then strain and cool slightly.

Treatment of dermatoses, acne, eczema, lichen, wound healing

Apply compresses soaked in a decoction of stemless thorny root to the affected areas of the skin. You can prepare a decoction as follows: pour 50 grams of dry root with two glasses of water and boil for 20-30 minutes. Leave for one hour, then strain. Keep the compress for about 15-20 minutes. The resulting decoction should be stored for no more than two days in the refrigerator.

Treatment of gastrointestinal spasms, diseases of the liver, kidneys, urinary and gallbladder, hemorrhoids with aqueous tincture of thornberry

Drink an aqueous tincture of thorn grass two to three times a day (15-20 drops each), obtained in this way: pour 15-30 grams of raw material into 500 ml of water, bring the solution to a boil and let it brew, then strain.

Alcohol tincture for colds

Drink an alcohol tincture of crushed dry spiny roots, obtained by infusing a mixture of 20 grams of raw material and 200 ml of vodka or alcohol for 14 days and then filtering it. Take 15-20 drops 2-3 times a day.

Thorn powder for depression, general loss of strength, nervous disorders

Take the powder obtained by grinding the dried thorn root orally on the tip of a knife, two to three times a day. Drink half a glass of warm water.

Contraindications

There are no contraindications to the use of stemless thorn. It is not recommended to use it only if you are individually intolerant to the drug. Overdose should also be avoided, otherwise nausea and vomiting may occur.

The thornfish is a starfish. Useful and medicinal properties of thorny thorny herbaceous plants for open ground