Miscanthus are a distinctive group of later summer flowering grasses that offer masses of flower in a multitude of different shades from red through to silver and white.
Miscanthus are a most beautiful group of later summer flowering grasses that offer flowers in varying shades of red through even more shades of pink and then to beige, silver and white. There are several species and a huge number of cultivars, most of which are grown for their flower though a few, such as Miscanthus Morning Light and Miscanthus Cosmopolitan, have impressively variegated leaves and a distinctive habit.
As high summer edges towards early autumn the fresh flowers of many of the miscanthus seem to almost explode from their green mounds of long strap like leaves to offer a seasonal bonanza of colour, light and movement that bring an extra layer of style and beauty to any garden.
Miscanthus Memory is a rather special selection that has the most beautiful silvery white flowers that never fail to draw admiring comment from our visitors at this time of year. This plant is growing in a pot as part of the nursery display.Miscanthus Cindy is a Knoll Gardens selection that was chosen for it masses of soft pink flowers that are held a little way clear of the supporting foliage.Masses of delicate looking semi pendulous pink flowers with a rounded and relatively compact habit make Miscanthus Cindy a very effective selection.Another Knoll Gardens selection, this time with a marked upright habit is Miscanthus Red Spear which was named for its relatively bright red flowers with spear like red buds. Seen here looking pretty fabulous as part of the planting in the Long Walk borders.The soft silvery pink flowers of Miscanthus Rosi seem to sparkle in the early morning sunlight.A relatively new and very lovely selection, with large flowers held on strong stems some way above the foliage, Miscanthus Rosi is putting on an impressive display as part of the Decennium border planting.An older cultivar Miscanthus Malepartus is still the standard by which other new selections are judged. An upright habit and dark purplish red flowers that gradually fade with age remains a winning combination as seen here in the Dragon Garden.Distinctively different from any other of its family, Miscanthus nepalensis offer basal mounds of green foliage from which arise airy stems topped by rather impressive burnished gold flowers that are almost silky to the touch.Miscanthus Sunset, seen growing here as part of the Long Walk borders and partnered with a sanguisorba, has masses of soft salmon pink flowers that are held some distance clear of the foliage and was named by us for its autumnal coloured foliage.At first light, and as part of the prairie style planting in the Dragon Garden, the impressive stems of Miscanthus Professor Richard Hansen offer flowers that are held well clear of the supporting foliage.As the sun rises the flowers of Miscanthus Professor Richard Hansen take on a pinky red tone that will fade with age as indeed do all miscanthus.Although capable of flowering, Miscanthus Cosmopolitan offers a veritable fountain of white and green striped slightly pendulous foliage that make flowers seem hardly necessary!
