Cereals, or ornamental grasses, are loved by many gardeners and landscape designers, since with the help of these plants you can plant large spaces in the garden, convey the atmosphere of a natural style and enjoy their beauty even in winter. How to create a cereal garden, and which varieties to give preference, read the article.

In gardening, approximately 300 different varieties of cereal grasses are used, which vary in height (from 15 cm to 2-3 m), color (white, yellow, golden, green, red, gray) and shape (soft and hard, well-kept in shape ).

What is the function of grains in the garden?

1. With the help of cereals, you can literally enliven a space, give it dynamics and even sound. Light, airy blades of grass will visually create excitement in the garden and make it “dance” to the mood of the wind. Graceful ears of corn, as if whispering to each other, will allow us to listen to the voice of the herbs, relax and plunge into the bosom of nature.

2. Grasses are excellent partners for many garden plants. They go very well with roses, diluting their majesty with their airy forms. Coniferous plants, daylilies and lilies, daisies, ferns, yarrow and other plants are also wonderful additions.

3. Cereals are decorative at any time of the year. In spring, some varieties will give green islands against the backdrop of flowering bulbs. In summer, the lush greenery of growing cereals will create the necessary comfort, and sometimes even a screen from prying eyes. Flowering ears will give interesting shapes and attract attention. And in the fall, when the color of the cereals changes to warm tones, they become garden favorites until frost. In winter, the blades of grass are covered with frost, turning the plants into frozen sculptures, staunchly guarding the sleeping garden until spring.

4. Some cereals - lagurus, shaker, reed - are used in floristry as dried flowers for making flower arrangements and panels.

A grain garden is called a low-maintenance garden because it doesn't require much care. However, as with growing any plants, there are some nuances here, which we will talk about.

Landing place. When choosing cereals for your garden, find out under what conditions they grow in your homeland. Choose those plants that suit your temperature conditions and climate.

Choose those plants that suit your temperature conditions and climate.

Cool season grains: hakonechloa, spreading boron, canary grass, acute-flowered reed grass and turfgrass. These are the cereals that appear with the onset of spring at a temperature of +12 ˚С. They grow quickly, reveal their decorative properties in mid-summer and remain until the coldest weather. In the heat, they can stop growing until autumn, and when the temperature drops again to comfortable limits (+20 ˚С), these cereals begin a second period of active growth.

Warm season cereals: miscanthus, imperata, millet and molinia. They differ in that they grow in the second half of summer, when the air temperature reaches +25 ˚С. Grasses are often considered August-season plants, since they bloom profusely in August-September, and subsequently some of them remain to decorate the winter garden.

The soil. Most cereals love loose, water- and breathable soil. Excessive stagnation of moisture most often causes rotting of the roots. The site can be in sun or partial shade. But it’s impossible to give definitive advice on soil, since everything depends on the specific plant.

Grains for wet areas: fox sedge, angustifolia cattail, virginia millet, miscanthus, reed, calamus grass, short-haired reed grass, soddy pike, large manna, divergent rush, falaris reed.

Cereals for dry areas: gray fescue, graceful butelua, aerial sporobol, bearded beetle, prominent bentgrass, Karl Forster acuminate reed, Overdam acuminate reed, Red Baron imperata, sand grass.

Important! Most cereals tend to grow strongly, filling the entire space. If the plant does not initially face such a task, their active growth must be restrained. This can be done by planting particularly aggressive varieties in plastic containers, or limiting their growth with border strips made of plastic or slate.

Most cereals tend to grow strongly, filling the entire space.

Trimming. If faded spikelets no longer look elegant, they are removed. In some cases, the entire plant is mowed down, after which it will grow back. It is advisable to do complete pruning of dried grasses in the spring after wintering.

Wintering. Cereals are afraid of sudden temperature changes. To do this, some varieties require shelter for the winter, which can be in the form of wooden logs or branches. In this case, the tree will take on the first frosts and allow the root system to gradually “go into hibernation.”

Cereals are afraid of sudden temperature changes. To do this, some varieties require shelter for the winter, which can be in the form of wooden logs or branches.

The most popular cereals for the garden

Molinia

Semi-bush large perennial grass from 1 to 2.4 m tall, native to wet meadows and damp forests. It blooms in July-August with narrow panicle inflorescences. During the season, the plant is able to change color from green to golden; there are variegated varieties in the genus. The genus contains three species. The most decorative is Blue Molinia (Molinia caerulea).

This is a wonderful decoration for the autumn and winter garden. As an accent plant, it is very impressive in low mixed borders, near lawns or in heather gardens. It grows up to 2 m and remains decorative for a very long time. In autumn it turns yellow.

Variety Poul Petersen. Low, up to 60 cm, the grass creates a natural meadow that combines effectively with trimmed hedges. Can act as a ground cover plant. Cold-resistant, can withstand partial shade.

Variety Fontane. Up to 2 m tall, with bluish leaves that change color to yellow-orange in late autumn.

Miscanthus

All miscanthus love fertile soils, as in their homeland they grow in river valleys. This is a rather large (0.8–2 m tall) perennial plant with wide and hard leaf blades (1.8 cm). One of the most popular ornamental grasses in gardening, it has a variety of varieties and forms, and is also adapted to various cultivation conditions and methods of application in garden design.

Miscanthus gigantea. A hybrid of sucrose and Chinese, it forms a diverging tussock and does not spread. It grows up to 3 m in height and practically does not bloom in our conditions.

Miscanthus sugarflower. Warm-growing grass, grows late. It is considered an invasive plant due to its ability to grow strongly.

Miscanthus sinensis (Chinese reed). The most popular type has both low varieties (1.2 m) and giant ones. A characteristic property of Chinese miscanthus is the white vein in the center of the leaf.

Variety Morning Light. The leaf is narrow, 5–7 mm wide, there is both a central white stripe and millimeter stripes along the edges of the leaves, the variegation is not transverse, but longitudinal.

Variety Punktchen. A grass with erect stems, 1.5 m high, flowers collected in fan-shaped panicles. The reddish and green narrow, belt-shaped leaves have yellow transverse stripes.

Fescue

There are over 150 species of fescue - this meadow and forest plant is distributed in almost all extratropical zones of the globe, as well as in the highlands of the tropical zone. Perennial plant 0.2–1.4 m tall, with creeping rhizomes. Leaf blades range from fairly wide linear to very narrow.

Amethyst fescue. One of the large fescue trees with blue-gray leaves. A cool-growing and evergreen plant, young foliage grows early. Reaches 60 cm in height, forming a rounded hummock. The leaves are thin, blue-green or gray-blue. It blooms in June, the inflorescences look like greenish-purple panicles. Grows in sunny places.

Variety Superba. The best and most interesting fescue variety. The leaves are an intense silver-blue color up to 30 cm long. Wheat-colored spikelets remain decorative for about 3 weeks.

Panicula fescue. Forms low hummocks, ideal for small areas and borders. Requires humus-sandy soil and drainage.

Variety Pic Carli. Low perennial plant 15 cm in height. It features graceful light green leaves. Looks very nice both in rockeries and in containers. Fescue looks like a voluminous green hummock or a prickly hedgehog. The plant is very tenacious, so it is ideal for any gardener.

Gray fescue attracts attention with its thin needle-shaped leaves of a bluish-silver hue. Round, dense bushes, up to 60 cm high, resembling sea urchins, are used in garden design to decorate lawn borders, in rock gardens and as ground cover plants.

Soddy pike (meadow pike)

Plant of wet and swampy meadows, forests, banks of swamps and other bodies of water. Shoots 20–70 cm high, with graceful spreading panicles 8–25 cm long and shiny small spikelets of green, yellowish, pale purple flowers, becoming straw-golden as they ripen .

Variety Bronzeschleier. One of the most luxurious cereals, up to 1.7 m high and 0.75 m wide. The panicles change their color from green to bronze-brown, remaining decorative until spring. The tussock itself is low, 30–40 cm tall, and the spikelets are up to 1.7 m tall, blooming unusually profusely and luxuriantly. It blooms very early, and the spikelets last all summer until winter and are cut off only next spring. The plant is used as a tapeworm in both natural and regular gardens.

Acute reed grass

A natural hybrid of ground reed grass and reed grass, it grows in dry places, in coniferous and mixed forests, and in drained swamps. Height 1.5 m and above, panicle up to 15–20 cm long. It blooms already in July - much earlier than other cereals. Numerous narrow and long panicles of inflorescences form a thick golden fan that remains decorative throughout the winter.

Variety Karl Foester. Already at the end of June - beginning of July, flower stems begin to appear. In the sun, stems with a tall, long pyramidal panicle of pinkish color can grow up to 2 m.

Variety Overdam. 1.5 m tall, very mobile, perfect for small gardens. Variegated foliage, green center and ivory edges.

Switchgrass

A warm-growing plant with a height of 1.2 to 2 m. Varieties with green foliage begin to acquire a reddish color of various shades in late July - early August. Varieties with gray-green and gray-blue foliage become yellow in autumn. Does not require fertile soil, can withstand flooding, and can be planted on the shore of a reservoir.

Heavy Metal grade. Up to 2 meters tall, it blooms with unusually beautiful openwork panicles. It acquires special charm and mystery in winter, when its spikelets are covered with frost.

Variety Warrior. Very characteristic dark burgundy bright spikelets.

Cirrus bristles (pennisetum)

Forms a low-growing compact bush 50 cm tall. It blooms in early August and lasts until frost. A beautiful clump with a large wheat-colored ear. After flowering, the color changes to purple.

Variety Hameln. The most winter-hardy variety, medium in height, up to 1 m. Green leaves turn golden yellow in autumn. Lush cylindrical flower spikes look like a fox tail. The color of the spikelets in August is dark purple. Preferably a sunny place, undemanding to soil.

Sesleria blue

A cool-growing evergreen with grey-blue leaves. It forms a low hummock of 20–30 cm. It begins to grow very early and already in late May - early June it blooms with small light fluffy spikelets, slightly rising above the leaves. Goes great with all plants. Can be planted as a ground cover that can be walked on. During pruning, you can simply mow down the green mass, which grows again very quickly.

Sheep evergreen

Ornamental grass with a blue tint, the tallest is up to 50 cm. The inflorescences are gray-green, in narrow soft panicles on a straight, up to 150 cm, stem. Blooms in July. Prefers soil that is dry to moderately dry, loose, and low in nutrients. Does not tolerate damp and heavy soils. In the shade and in nutrient-rich soil, the plant turns green.

Variety Saphirsprudel. The leaves are bright gray-blue. Forms a magnificent fountain of shiny silver spikelets.

feather grass

Grows in the subtropics and temperate zone. Blooms in late spring - early summer. Plant from 30 to 80 cm tall. In gardens it is used in small groups in sunny, dry places. Prefers well-drained, loose, non-acidic soils. Does not tolerate waterlogging. Good for creating masses, extremely decorative in single plantings. Also used for dry bouquets in floristry.

Cereals in the garden landscape

Grasses look great in spacious landscape compositions, especially in gardens that imitate a natural meadow, as well as in container gardens. With skillful selection of varieties, taking into account their place of growth and growth characteristics, ornamental grasses can be used both in large spaces and in small gardens.

Giant grasses work well as solitaires, hedges, screens or accents in mixed borders.

Small forms of cereals will complement flowering plants, serve as ground covers, decorate the tree trunk, the coastal line of a reservoir (if the plant is suitable for wet places), and borders.

Once again, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that if the plant is aggressive in its growth pattern, its growth can be limited by border tape or planting in a container.

If the plant has an aggressive growth habit, its growth can be limited by border tape or planting in a container.

When combining plants, take into account color, height and texture. At the same time, take into account the fact that many of the cereal grasses change their color several times during the season.

Flower bed planting schemes with cereals

A) Purple sapling; B) Perennial mallow Salute; C) Reed grass Karl Forster; D) Fassin's catnip; E) Rudbeckia fulgida Black-eyed Susan; F) Sedum Autumn Joy; G) Pampas grass CortaderiaselloanaPumila

A) Miscanthus chinensis Gracillimus; B) Reed grass Karl Forster; C) Miscanthus chinensis Zebrinus; D) Sage; E) Sedum Autumn Joy; F) Miscanthus chinensis Hameln; G) Golden Fleece; H) Chinese chrysanthemum; I) Blue fescue; J) Sedum FrostyMorn; K) Aster Purple Dome; L) Calendula; M) Chistets Byzantine The topic of cereals is so vast that it is difficult to cover it in one article. We will definitely return to considering individual types and varieties of this crop next time. I hope that by familiarizing yourself with a small part of cereal plants, you can easily create the desired space in your garden. Good luck! Photos used in this article - Rasa Laurinavičienė

The garden does not always have to consist exclusively of brightly flowering plants. Ornamental grasses help create unique garden compositions, add interesting touches, and create a complete image. In addition, they are decorative at almost any time of the year.
Today we have collected for you a selection of the most beautiful, in our opinion, ornamental cereals.

Acute-flowered reed grass (Calamagrostis acutiflora) or Fox's tail (popularly)- it really does resemble a lot of fluffy reddish-yellow tails. The plant develops well in both sun and partial shade. Lush flowering begins in July. The height of the plant is up to one and a half meters.

Reedwort (Phalaris arundinacea)– a gorgeous variegated grass (there are also monochromatic forms, but they have not taken root in gardening), enlivens any flower garden, looks great near decorative ponds, on alpine hills. There is only one problem, but it’s a big one - the two-breasted plant grows at lightning speed, destroying any plants in its path and turning the garden into a continuous motley carpet. Height from 40cm to 1.2 m.

Imperata cylindrica- one of the brightest and most interesting cereals, ready to compete for supremacy with the noblest flowers in the flowerbed. Unlike many of its relatives, imperata does not form a weeping bush; its long, bright leaves always tend upward. The closer autumn approaches, the redder they become. But it blooms rarely, and not at all so brightly. Plant height up to 1 meter. Imperata prefers sunny places.

Beautiful feather grass (Stipa pulcherrima)- the most delicate steppe plant, from a distance reminiscent of a light haze. Long feather grass inflorescences (up to 50 cm) simply dissolve in the air, and when the wind blows, they shimmer in waves. Very calms the nervous system and gives rest to the eyes. Plant height is up to 80 cm. Feather grass is listed in the Red Book.

Cortaderia selloana or Pampas grass- the most famous and popular cereal in gardening. Today it is most often found in the gardens of summer residents in Central Russia. And the flowering of Cortaderia is the brightest of all ornamental grasses: large marks of white, yellow or pink shades do not leave anyone indifferent. Cortaderia looks best alone, without competing for dominance with other plants. Height from 40cm to 3 meters.

Chinese miscanthus (Miscanthus sinensis)- more loved by landscape designers than by ordinary summer residents. Often used to create lush garden compositions, especially those involving ponds. Very demanding of light. Has many varieties. Plant height up to 2 meters.

Blue fescue (Festuca glauca)– lush low bushes of this type of fescue have a grayish-blue tint. The grass looks very neat and decorative and shades other plants well. Great for compositions with stones. Height from 20 to 60 cm. Flowering in June.

Cirrus bristleweed (Pennisetum)- also a rather short, charming bush that branches out to the sides, with fluffy inflorescences on long stems. Flowering begins in August and continues until frost. Tends to quickly spread throughout the garden. The height can reach 1 meter, but low varieties of Cirrus bristle, up to 60 cm high, are more common. In gardening, the most popular are: foxtail cirrus bristle, purple cirrus bristle and gray cirrus.

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)- another interesting bright cereal. Outwardly, it is slightly similar to the Imperata mentioned above, but is taller (up to 2 meters), tends to fall apart, and has bright reddish-red inflorescences.

Plant height:

Cereals in the garden

Ornamental grasses are an integral part of any landscape composition. They are able to complement the overall ensemble of the composition, give it an interesting look and make it more voluminous. Very often, such little things as phalaris growing among the stones, fescue neatly framing the border, marsh calamus near a babbling brook, a solitary blue-grass plant near a gigantic member in a rockery, majestic imperata, as well as bright bulbous ryegrass despite their small size, can significantly enliven any composition in a rock garden, rock garden and even a decorative pond.
Grasses come in different shapes and sizes. They differ in the shape and color of the leaves, the size of the stem and the placement of the leaves themselves on it. This helps to actively combine them with varieties of other herbs and create entire gardens from them. Ornamental grasses are distinguished by their ease of care and rapid growth. They are able to decorate both a small summer cottage and a personal property and even a winter garden. They can be used both when making bouquets and for decorating flower beds and mixborders.

Ornamental grasses are increasingly woven into garden landscapes and participate in the compositions of flower beds and other landscapes. Fashionable natural naturgarden and natural style only develops the popularity of these herbs. They help create exactly the mood that is necessary for landscape design.
It's impossible not to love grains. Thanks to them, the garden always remains decorative. They easily tolerate changing weather conditions and the onset of winter. Even at this time, they retain their decorative appearance and continue to decorate the garden until spring.

Using grains in the garden, you can create amazing compositions. If you use only flowering plants, you will not achieve this effect. Cereals do not take over the main role of flowers in the overall design. They only carefully emphasize and make it possible to make the flower garden more delicate and unique.

Different shades of cereals from silver to bronze can make a special impression. Against their background, other plants are shaded more favorably and become even brighter. The flower garden will definitely play with all the colors, but at the same time it will not strain the eyes at all. By choosing the right cereals in shade and size, you will be able to create colorful flower beds, among which there will be islands of both primary and additional colors.

All grains differ in their shape and size. The structure and shape of their leaves are also different. This is what allows them to be widely used in landscape design. Moreover, their durability and ability to shine with beauty throughout all seasons will allow you to make minimal efforts to care for the flower garden or mixborder where cereals are planted. There is no need to constantly replant or remove flowers. Even in the absence of any flowers in early spring or autumn, the result will be a neat and finished look.

Cereal selection

Depending on the location of the flower bed or flower bed, various ornamental grasses are selected. Before choosing, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with their features, preferences and possible heights. Some of them love moisture, others prefer dryness and warmth. Therefore, when choosing, all this must be taken into account.

All cereals are divided into warm- and cold-growing. Warm-growing plants grow during warm periods of the year. Cold-growing plants grow actively in early spring and late autumn.

Warm-growing cereals

Such cereal grasses wait until the soil and air warm up. Only then do they begin to actively grow. The most optimal temperature for them is 25°C. The maximum temperature will be approximately 35°C. During the cold season they practically do not grow. But when heat appears, they actively grow. Such plant species are characterized by long development of the flower spike.

It is convenient to plant such warm-growing cereals next to bulbous ones.. They will hide the flowers that are retiring and fading. With the help of them, it is excellent to hide drooping and obsolete bulbs and to decorate the resulting empty spaces with their overgrown stems.

It is advisable to replant and separate cereals in spring and summer.. This is done by dividing the roots, but only during active growth. If young shoots have just begun to grow, you will have to wait a while and let them get stronger.
It is equally important to divide plants before flower stems appear. In this case, they will significantly slow down growth and the stems will become less strong. Some heat-loving cereals can be replanted in the fall.

Heat-loving ornamental grasses

Warm-season grains grow constantly in the summer. They look amazing. one of these is the grate or sand elymus. This cereal grows all summer. Molinia is a little different from the others in that it begins its active growth at lower temperatures. 20 degrees Celsius is enough for her. The older the plant, the more actively it grows when warm weather arrives.

Cold-growing ornamental grasses

Cold-growing cereals They begin to grow only with a decrease in temperature after a hot summer or immediately after the snow melts. This may be close to zero temperature. Their growth continues up to +24 degrees, and at higher temperatures it ends. The most active growth of these cereals is at +15-24 degrees. This period is characterized by high humidity and long daylight hours. As summer temperatures rise, there is more sunlight and less precipitation. At this time, cool-growing grasses stop growing. In the middle zone, these cereals have two growth periods, which occur in autumn and spring. Typically these include evergreen or semi-evergreen plants. Most of them grow even at low temperatures, before the arrival of winter cold. These green areas that appear in the garden at the beginning of spring are not afraid of frost. Herbs begin to bloom in early spring or early summer, and their panicles and spikelets remain throughout the summer and autumn, often until spring.
Due to their growth habits, cold-growing cereals are divided and replanted in early spring before the arrival of warm summer weather or in late summer, with lower temperatures, until mid-autumn, when there is a period of intensive growth. They are then cut back to make room for new foliage to form. During the summer dormancy period, it is not advisable to divide and replant these herbs.

With the help of meadow foxtail, lawns arranged in shade are used in landscape design. It blooms in May, forming fluffy and soft inflorescences reminiscent of a fox's tail.
Bulbous ryegrass tolerates cold well and is unpretentious to soils. On dry days and cold nights it forms magnificent decorative curtains. Having cut off the drying leaves in the summer, you can wait for new foliage in the fall, when the ryegrass regains its decorative appearance. To form a strong and beautiful plant, division should be carried out in spring or autumn.
Cirruschaete. Grows well in sunny areas and moist soils. A volumetric curtain in the form of a fountain can be 80 cm or more in height. It begins to bloom in late summer - early autumn, forming beautiful inflorescences of spikelets.
Barley is maned. This cereal can be stored in the garden for two months. To prevent self-seeding and ensure the plant has a second flowering, you should remove the inflorescences in time, preventing the seeds from setting. Barley is sown before winter or spring. One sowing is enough for this plant to remain in the garden for a long time. Maned barley is characterized by self-seeding, but it is not an annoying weed. It will decorate the area and will not grow much. If desired, this plant can be weeded without much difficulty, since it has thin shoots and shallow roots. Barley requires open sunny places. It tolerates drought well and does not require watering. It forms strong hummocks on nutritious soil, although it can develop even on poor sandy soils.
Reed dvukochnik. Quite a beautiful plant with variegated leaves, thanks to which it is actively used to decorate gardens. It grows well in moist soils and occupies large areas as it grows strongly. To limit its growth, wide metal strips should be dug into the soil to a depth of 15-20 cm or planted in a container. The dwarf plant grows up to 90-120 cm. It can be planted along the banks of reservoirs.

The most unpretentious cereals

Spreading boron is one of the first plants to appear in spring. Its most decorative part is considered to be the bright leaves, which have a green or yellow tint depending on the variety, and can also be multi-colored. In order to get a rich yellow group in shade or partial shade, you can plant the Aureum variety. This plant is a cold-growing plant and does without shelter in winter. With the arrival of hot summer days, its growth stops. Since the rhizome grows strongly, you need to be careful with this plant. It is better to propagate boron by division - this will allow you to quickly form a beautiful clump. The plant can also be obtained from seeds. All new plants adopt varietal properties. Boron can also reproduce by self-sowing.
Buharniksoft. One of the few groundcover grasses with white striped leaves. It is used to strengthen slopes and create low borders, but care must be taken to ensure that the grass does not spread to the sides. Variety Variegatus has leaves from 15 to 20 cm high stem peduncle. With a long spring and early autumn, the buharnik will grow well, even with insufficient watering and on infertile soil.
The plant loves sunlight most of all on cold days. In hot weather it is better to shade it, and in rain the buharnik will lie down. Division is carried out in autumn or spring. When a plant self-sows, its seedlings will produce pure green leaves and behave too aggressively.
Acute-flowered reed grass. If you plant reed grass in the foreground, it will look like a translucent canvas or a living screen. Then the main composition will be viewed through this cereal curtain. The genus Veinik from the Poaceae family includes more than 200 species of various reed grasses. In the conditions of our climatic zone, the original reed grass grows - acute-flowered. This cold-growing perennial grass has a creeping rhizome. Varietal reed grasses do not have root shoots and are not characterized by aggressiveness. Acute-flowered reed grass grows up to 150 cm or more, is undemanding and drought-resistant. It is characterized by rapid growth and flowering in July. Looks impressive near a pond. A large number of The long and narrow spikelets of reed grass flutter beautifully in the wind, which gives the garden a special atmosphere.
This quality distinguishes them from other gardens. In early spring, the reed grass begins to grow long leaves, by mid-summer it blooms with long panicles, and in the fall the garden of cereals takes on a crimson hue. Cerealsgardens retain their decorative value all year round.

It is difficult to imagine a modern garden without ornamental grasses. The use of cereals in landscape design was not so long ago an innovation, something incredibly original. But their unpretentiousness and low maintenance requirements have made cereal plants a favorite in garden design.

Cereals or grasses are a family of plants that include wheat and bamboo, reeds and all kinds of grasses. Almost all of these plants are perennial, distributed over all continents, and widely used in culture.

Grass lawns have long been considered an indispensable attribute of a cultivated landscape. They have found their application in gardens of any style. In the 1930s of the last century, cereals were first introduced by breeder and writer Karl Forster as plants for creating artistic compositions. His ideas were further developed in the works of many landscape designers, but they became especially popular in European countries in the 70s. The impetus for this widespread interest was special mixtures for urban landscaping, including drought-resistant perennials and grasses.

Nowadays, cereal plants have become full participants in flower beds, mixborders and other various corners of the garden. They have a number of qualities for which they are valued:

• Constant decoration.
• Variety of types, sizes, shapes and colors.
• Low maintenance requirements.
• Ability to easily get along with other plant species.

Decorative properties

Cereals are attractive at any time of the year: in the spring they delight with carpets of bright fresh greenery, in the summer they surprise with intricate panicles of inflorescences, in the fall they change their color and saturate the garden with autumn colors, and even in winter many of them retain an attractive appearance, fancifully covered with snow or overgrown with frost. The variability of grass plants provides year-round interest in the garden.

After cutting, many species retain their shape and color and are indispensable when decorating dry bouquets and floral arrangements.

Variety of colors and textures

Representatives of the cereal family are varied in color - green, bluish-green, yellow, yellow-green, red, purple, variegated. In a mixborder, the red leaves of Imperata cylindrica can be shaded with silver-green Chinese, blue fescue can be combined with reed grass.

The height of different types of cereal plants is varied - from 20 cm for fescue to 2 m for miscanthus; suitable cereals can be selected for almost any corner of the garden.

Spikelets and panicles of inflorescences appear from June to September, depending on the species, transforming the plant. Dense green cylinders and white panicles, purple-brown tassels and pink fluff usually last until late autumn and can be used for dried bouquets.

Easy to grow

One of the key trends in modern landscape design is ease of maintenance. The main task of the landscape designer is to select and plant them correctly, and further care for them is kept to a minimum. Plants grow, filling the free space, bloom at the time assigned to them by nature, remaining attractive all the time.

Cereal plants are ideal for solving this problem. They tolerate drought and heavy rains well and do not require pruning or frost protection. Ornamental grasses have a good growth rate and are easy to grow, less susceptible to diseases and pest infestation.

Turfgrass and blue molinia grow well in moist soils, reed phalaris thrives in the scorching sun. Cereals can grow on both poor sandy and rocky soils and on fertile black soil.

Combinations of cereals with other types

Many cereals are very aggressive, grow quickly and occupy large areas if they are not artificially limited in growth. But their ability to adapt to different conditions allows them to be combined with other garden plants.