A new ornamental grass

Miscanthus Starlight; 

a new ornamental grass from Knoll Gardens.

 Miscanthus Starlight is possibly the most compact free flowering miscanthus so far available and was released by Knoll Gardens in 2012 as part of our long running selection programme aimed at providing UK gardeners with a range of quality ornamental grasses that perform consistently well in our varied UK climate.

 Starlight is a selection from the Yakushima Dwarf group of miscanthus that were introduced into this country some years back as a group of hybrids which, while all dwarf in some respects, varied quite significantly between each other while still being known collectively as Miscanthus Yakushima (Yaku) Dwarf. This has led to some confusion over a period of time which is why Knoll Gardens decided to try and identify some of the more distinct forms and give them individual cultivar names. Miscanthus Abundance is another form given cultivar status by us a few years back as a result of our selection programme which is rather larger than Starlight but with the same abundance of flower (for which it was named) and overall compact habit. Miscanthus Elfin, also named by us, is somewhere between the two with a noticeable reddish flower stem.

Miscanthus Little Kitten is another good compact form, though not selected by us, possibly a little taller than Starlight but paler flowers initially and a less silvered foliage effect.

 Any of the Miscanthus Yaku Dwarf strains make good ornamental grasses for the garden but we are especially pleased to have been able to select and name some with more distinctive characteristics such as Starlight which has a wonderful rounded shape, comparatively silvered foliage and masses of flowers that are as effective in the winter as they are when freshly produced in high summer.

With a high wow factor and easy going nature Miscanthus Starlight is excellent in most garden situations; as an individual specimen in small gardens or as a massed drift in larger spaces it performs well in a variety of soils and while preferring sunny open positions to flower best, is even tolerant of a small amount of shade. Being deciduous simply cut down the plant to the base each spring, either leaving the old stems on the soil as a mulch or removing to compost.There is no staking, deadheading or spraying needed!

Like so many ornamental grasses Miscanthus Starlight is easy to use, long lived and beautiful to look at......

Ornamental Grasses

Ornamental Grasses for the Modern Garden

For many gardeners a slight air of mystery can surround the use of ornamental grasses in gardens, but in fact they are so very easy to use and are really no different in principal from most perennial plants. While the great majority ornamental grasses prefer open sunny conditions, there are also those that will tolerate dry shade and other difficult to plant situations such as wet soils and even pondsides.

Strongly architectural, they work extremely well en masse but are just as happy in mixed plantings, whether with perennials or woody plants, and need little in the way of aftercare once established. More ‘wow’ with less work is a practical maxim for gardening with ornamental grasses.

As most of the ‘wow’ factor deciduous grasses come into their own from high summer onwards they are almost uniquely placed to carry the scene right though what can otherwise be a rather barren period in gardens.  Combined with many autumn colouring woody plants, the ornamental grasses in my own garden at Knoll in Dorset, (which is open most of the year), help create a peak of interest from high summer right through until late autumn, though interest continues right up to Christmas and deep into winter.

All of the main groups of deciduous ornamental grasses can provide showstopping impact such as miscanthus, pennisetum, panicum, calamagrostis and molinia. For example Miscanthus ‘Ferner Osten’  at about 2metres has fast growing mounds of gently cascading foliage during the earlier part of the season to be followed by masses of dark red flowers that gradually fade to beige; all the while with amazing textural qualities that last far longer than the initial flush of fresh colour. It is just one of many good garden cultivars that reach a peak of performance with the onset of autumn. Miscanthus ‘Flamingo’is a similar height and every bit as good and effective in the garden but with deep bright pink pendulous flowers.

Panicums are a personal favourite ornamental grass. Being a little shorter than the taller miscanthus and so suitable for smaller areas, their generally upright habit and soft leaves which can turn incredible colours in the autumn have spikes of tiny flowers so enthusiastically produced that more solid perennial flowers such as echinacea planted nearby appear to be floating on the cloud like masses of flower. Panicum ‘Heavy Metal’ is well named for its stems leaves and flowers, all of which have a quite tall (1.5m), upright habit, are of a uniform powder blue grey that is so effective with such a wide range of perennials and I enjoy a line of these grasses adjoining groups of Eupatorium maculatum Atropurpureum and Veronicastrum virginicum. Well known for its beautiful dark purplish red autumn foliage and masses of tiny dark flowers is Panicum 'Warrior' (1.2m), while a still new cultivar Panicum ‘Northwind’ (1.2m+), provides a strongly upright accent that is very effective in borders or containers, flowers well, and has really warm brown autumnal tones.

Fountain grasses (Pennisetum), are fabulous ornamental grasses that provide masses of flower at a lower height of generally less than 1metre where their fluffy caterpillar like flowers reflect the slightest amount of morning or afternoon sunshine. This backlit effect is simple to achieve with most of the ornamental grasses by simply planting them where the sun will be seen coming from behind the flowers. The effect is magical and so easy to do; we can forget that sunshine and the angle of the light plays an important part in how we see our plants and enjoy our gardens. Pennisetum ‘Fairy Tails’ is new and rather exciting, with freely produced strongly upright tail like flowers it is really brilliant at providing a sort of informal garden hedge or screen that needs no summer maintenence and provides masse sof flower into the bargain! Pennisetum ‘Red Head’ is a recently introduced unrivalled must have with large initially red flowers that quickly turn to smoky grey-black.

Found in most gardens dry shade is amongst the most difficult of conditions to plant successfully but even here ornamental grasses offer several easy care options. Anemanthele lessoniana can cope with the driest shade amongst the roots of trees and shrubs and is as beautiful as it is effective. Where conditions are a little less severe the hakone grass, in either the green form Hakonechloa macra or the yellow variegated version Hakonechloa ‘Aureola’, provides elegant mounds of narrow lance shaped leaves that can turn bare dry ground into an oasis of cool.

Easy to use and easy to please; there really is almost an ornamental grass for every garden situation!

Carex secta is a very attractive evergreen sedge from New Zealand that is proving to be a very valuable garden plant. Not only does it form wonderful rounded mounds of glossy green foliage, over a period of time it forms little 'haystacks' of old foliage and root that give it an appearance of a gradually increasing central stem which becomes more of a feature with age.

Having been growing successfully for a few years on their muddy island in a small pond in the gardens last winters weather destroyed the top growth leaving just the old 'haystack' visible and we rather though they had succumbed to our less than hospitable weather. But as you will see from the pictures a whole set of new leaves began emerging from the very top of the stack and has since made rapid growth to recover lost ground.

Beautiful and tough !!

We also have another group growing in dry shade, and while not quite as exhuberant as those seen here they are still making great cover.

Beautiful, tough.... and adaptable !!

A few leaves left !!

After last nights windy weather most of our remaining autumn colour is now on the floor!

However Cotinus Grace has managed to keep a good few of its, by now, almost translucent leaves and is looking beautiful in todays sunshine. Probably my favourite form of all the rather wonderful smoke bushes; though we do have a good specimen of Cotinus obovatus that also colours beautifully in another part of the garden.

Welcome to Knoll Gardens blog page.

Molinia, miscanthus, periscaria and joe pye weed in a Lower Lawn border.

This summer has again been rather different from what we had come to expect in our dry corner of Dorset. As with last summer, the lack of sun has not been overly welcome, but the increased rainfall has not been all bad in that many of our plants, like some of the big trees and shrubs, have welcomed the respite from the usual drought conditions they have to contend with.


Our National Collection of Pennisetum, or Fountain grasses to give them their common name, revel in sunny, hot, well drained situations. For example, in the Mill End borders we have added a group of the very new Pennisetum ‘Red Head’ with its huge, initially red, then almost black flowers that are quite stunning. In the Decennium Border Pennisetum ‘Hameln’, has made wonderful dark green mounds of foliage now topped with its fluffy catkin like heads of flower which it will hold for most of the winter.

The Gravel Garden has been extended and recently planted with many new plants that will tolerate or even enjoy the sun baked and often drought prone conditions in this particularly dry part of the garden. Pennisetum, panicum, salvia, persicaria and jarava are just some of the many plants that have found a new home here.
Stipa gigantea ‘Gold Fontaene’ is the striking grass to one end of the gravel that sends up tall spikes of beautiful oat-like heads of flower which last nearly all year. Though a little shorter than usual due to the earlier low light levels, we are especially pleased with this form which is as uncommon as it is beautiful.

Although the Holly Walk, which now borders the new gravel extension, gets quite a bit of sun the increasing bulk of the surrounding shrubs and their roots make this area increasingly dry and difficult for most plants. However the pheasant grass, Anemanthele lessoniana (also known as Stipa arundinacea), is an evergreen that tolerates both dry sun and shade very well. The combination of the flower and its ever changing foliage colour would grace any garden scene.

The Decennium Border was planted just over seven years ago as a replacement for old conifers which had passed their ‘fell by’ date. The border is designed to have several peaks of interest as the season progresses, all from permanent planting without the need to keep adding more plants. There are many lovely plants timed to be at their best from now onwards, including the amazing Joe Pye Weed or Eupatorium atropurpureum contrasting its pinky purple flat heads beautifully with several miscanthus including ‘Flamingo’ and ‘Ferner Osten’. I particularly love the Panicum ‘Heavy Metal’, its grey blue foliage topped with clouds of dark pinky purple flowers weaving its way between the miscanthus and the Joe Pye Weed.

Along the Mill End borders we removed the wide turf path replacing it with a sinuous bark surface which, at the same time as reducing maintenance, allows much more room for the new plants we wanted to use in this area. It is now easy to enjoy the plants at close quarters, and we have already recorded over 20 different butterflies in this area with the flat pinkish heads of Eupatorium lindleyanum and the narrow red upright flowers of Persicaria being especially sought after. The striking strongly upright grass close to the path is Panicum North Wind which makes a wonderful vertical accent in any planting.