Grass plant Miscanthus transmorrisonensis aka evergreen feather grass

A quick post today on one of my favorite grass plants Miscanthus transmorrisonensis or Evergreen feather grass. This type of Miscanthus is one of the most popular as it holds flower heads from summer through to late winter. Miscanthus transmorrisonensus was introduced from Taiwan by Paul Meyer of the Morris Arboretum and C. Ferris Miller of Chollipo Arboretum. The seed was collected from wild plants found at nearly ten thousand feet in elevation on the slops of Mt. Daxue of Sichuan province in Southwest China.
Miscanthus plants are native to China and Japan. They go by the common names Chinese silvergrass, Suzuki grass, Porcupine grass and Maiden grass. They are a great plant to use for providing the often forgotten element of movement in your garden as the flower heads sway around in the breeze when the wind picks up. They are sometimes recommended as a plant for prarie style gardens. They also look stunning with the sun shining behind the flower heads. They can be propagated by division. They respond well after transplanting and you don't have to be overly careful after pulling them up. Digging the plant out of the ground is the hardest part. They have a dense fibrous root system that needs to be dug around and under to lift the plant.  I would describe their water usage as low / medium once established.

When I first started working in the Parkville garden where I currently am employed, we dug up a mature Miscanthus transmorrisonensis plant and divided it into about 8 clumps. What you see in the pictures below is 6 of those clumps approximately 1 year after planting them. They are about 1.2 metres tall.

Here it is in all its glory. Honestly it looks significantly better in real life when it is swaying around in the wind with the sun shining on it.

Closeup of the beautiful plumes of this plant. Only a really bright day the sun almost makes the plumes look like they are illuminating light.

Group planting of tall herbaceous perennial flowering plants

A concept I keyed onto when starting out in the horticultural industry is that of tall growing flower beds. Once discovered I couldn't believe that I had traditionally thought of flower beds as being low growing almost ground cover like installations. Tall growing beds in a semi large to large style garden area are great. They add a sense of scale to the garden as you are forced to either look through or around them in order to travel to the next part of the garden. Tall growing flowers / plants are something I associate with the 'prarie' style of garden. My experience with such plants is limited to those which I see at my current workplace in Parkville although I have propagated some of these plants by division and set them in place at my home in Macedon. I really think tall growing flowering plants can be used as a major show piece in even a small garden if strategically placed. The term 'herbaceous perennial' means a plant whose growth dies down annually but whose crowns, roots, bulbs or rhizomes survive the winter.

Anenome heupehensis (pink cultivar) makes an absolutely stunning group planting. Chop them down to the ground once spent and watch them grow back to 1.6m approx the next season. They are a warm season herbaceous perennial.

Close up of the flower

Masses of Helianthus angustifolius "swamp sunflower". These grow over 6 feet tall. Chop them to the ground in Winter and watch them shoot up in the warm seasons.

Close up of the flower