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New question! What looks great in front of Chasmanthium?

16 years ago

Those of you who love Chasmanthium, what do you like to use it as a backdrop for? Ideally I'd like something with reddish foliage, but I'm open to other ideas. Something medium height maybe? Maybe even as tall as the Chasmanthium, providing it's less substantial. Not little and low (was considering alchemilla and burgundy heuchera but rejected them). It will have a spot at the front, so at least 6 hours of sun.

I'm infatuated with Husker's Red penstemon at the moment. What do you think? Good choice or will it not stand out against the chasmanthium enough? And, it has to not look bizarre close to a stand of cannas.

I'm not very concerned with bloom color but I would have a hard time fitting in bright hot red or bright pink. On the other side of the bed I'm putting in Echinacea 'White Swan' so if it bloomed at the same time, something else white might be nice.

Pics are huge extra credit if you have them.

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

arbo_retum
16 years ago
mine are grassy, fountain like, sometimes floppy. i go with short rounded leaf forms- geranium, heuchera(sorry, i counter your deletion)or ppl lf. euphorbias, ajuga metallica......
sergeantcuff
16 years ago
I'm trying platycodon (balloon flower), tiger lilies, and monarda (bee balm -raspberry wine). I just moved a bunch of plants around yesterday, nothing in bloom, so no pics. Good luck.
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mxk3 z5b_MI
16 years ago
Well, two of my three clumps of Chasmanthium are in dry shade, and frankly beggars can't be choosers, so no stunning design ideas in that regard, though I did manage to get Sweet Autumn ferns (Dryopteris) established in this area, which do tolerate drier conditions once established.

My other clump of Chas. has much better soil/moisture conditions, and next to it I have a good-sized drift of brunnera on one side, and "Patriot" hosta on the other and "Silver Scrolls" coral bells.

Regarding the Husker's Red - love the flower and foliage before bloom time, but not a big fan of the foliage after blooming, it gets taller and floppy/sparse. I cut it down last year but then it just looked like someone hacked at it, it doesn't seem to be one of those plants that fills in again after shearing. So I moved them to a position in the bed where I can enjoy the blooms and just see hints of reddish foliage from a distance but other plants hide them from obvious view.
hunt4carl
16 years ago
Of my several clumps of Chasmanthium, my favorite combo
is fronted with a cluster of good old reliable Rudbeckia
"Goldstrum", with just one Achillea x "Anthea" tossed in to
soften the gold. . .pinching back the Rudbeckia in June can
shorten them somewhat, for better balance.
catevala
15 years ago
Chasmanthium ("Inland Sea-oats") is a relatively small grass and rather fine textured. Hence I would not put anything in front of it that is also fine textured. You need something bold and shorter. Penstemons, Rudbeckias and so on are too big and tall for fronting Chasmanthium in my humble opinion. Brunneras might be a bit too bold. Maybe Coreopsis, the small nana form? Or if in shade what about Chrysogonum virginianum?!

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