ISO - Miniature Grasses to Mix With Mosses & Stone

rodango

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

Hi all,

I'm slowly building and designing my Japanese themed garden patches.

Doing some work with stones, large and small. In between would like to

have plants with a mix of textures. So considering mosses and especially

looking for tiny plants that will cover ground. Searching for dwarf grasses

usually turns up 24" to 36" varieties that are not in scale. One I've found that

looks really nice is blue eyed grass, esp. Blue Note. It is slow growing,

and sold out at many (most?) nurseries I've looked at. It would be a better

choice for me if it didn't flower, but it's still very nice if slow growing.

It would also be really cool to find miniature ferns in this scale, topping

out around 6" - 10", clumping bamboos (maybe), specific mosses with

good spreading & clumping character.

We have some equisetum, possiblya dwarf variety 12" to 20" max - it still needs to prove out. Drought toleranceis important, east of Atlanta, as we typically have a season of high heat that can be dry for July and August.

There will be areas of sun, partial sun, and mostly shade. Medium plants include

various spice and herb plants, many are annuals but may overwinter for one

or more years, sage, catnips and some mints for example. We have a few nice

Japanese maples in various types, colors and sizes. They do pretty well here

if situated and planted well, and don't take too much care. They work well

with a mix of plants, and the odd stones dry stacked.

Thanks for suggestions on miniature plants, especially grasses, maybe ferns

and others you can think of!

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Comments (4)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
3 years ago
For small scaled grass-like plants, look at dwarf mondo grass, Ophiopogon japonicus 'Nanus' or black mondo, Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens'. Dwarf sweet flag (Acorus gramineaus 'Minimus Aureus') or sea thrift (Armeria maritima) would work as well.

For a dwarf fern, consider Blechnum penne-marina or one of the spike mosses, Selaginella species, which are often mistaken as ferns.

All kinds of alpines could work as well.

None are overly drought tolerant with the possible exception of the sea thrift. so routine watering may or may not be required in your area. We get much less rainfall than you would outside of Atlanta, especially during eth summer months, but I rarely need to water any of these if planted in the ground. Containers are another matter.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years ago
descriptive words in regard to size.. are linked to annual growth rate ...

if momma grows a foot per year ... a dwarf of her ... has a lesser growth rate ... and it can mean anything otherwise ... for e.g. 6 to 8 inches ...

the third word used.. is usually mini ... and that means an even lesser growth rate ... amybe 4 to 6 or even smaller ...

try searching out mini grasses.. and see what your options are ...

but .. if you get this specialized.. you might have to mail order .. and thats what you do.. when you want extra-ordinary plant ...

and when you take that to a search engine.. presto ... its what gal said.. bazinga.. lol

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffnt&q=mini+grasses&iax=images&ia=images

ken
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cecily 7A
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last modified: 3 years ago
sedge (carex) might be a substitute for grass
nandina
3 years ago
rodango, your project is similar to one I have enjoyed playing with throughout my 70 years of horticulture. And I am very familiar with your climate. I will probably add a few thoughts later but for the moment I want to concentrate on moss in the shady or dry or difficult spots. I first discovered the answer to this problem some 60 years ago when shopping mall construction was destroying downtown economies and precious woodlands.

Visit one close by and study two things. First, the moss growing in sidewalk cracks is perfect for those difficult areas. It stays flat, spreads nicely in difficult growing conditions and some interesting little plantlets will appear in it over time. I remove my chosen selections of sidewalk moss (wherever I may find it) with an all metal dough blade which just fits into that space and allows the removal of generous slices.

Also, drive around shopping centers and study the water drains. The edges of these drain spots produce some very interesting mosses surviving in a very difficult environment which you may decide to collect and trial for your project...again using a metal dough blade to scrape up large, flat sections.

A few bits of experienced advice. All mosses grow best on mature soils where the finest particles have worked up to the surface over the years. Before fitting together any collected mosses in a Japanese garden, take the time to sift about 1/4 inch of soil over the area to be mossed. Also, collected mosses may be placed in a cardboard box and allowed to dry in a warm spot. When very dry it is possible to moss an area by putting soil together with dry moss in a sieve and spreading all in the chosen area.

ISO - Miniature Grasses to Mix With Mosses & Stone

Comments (4)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

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