To create vivid and expressive compositions, masters of landscape design recommend using a wide variety of elements and materials. Designing the site, each of us wants to create a cozy corner of nature with bright accents of flowers that harmoniously combine with a discreet, but no less spectacular background from other plants. To create such original combinations, cereals in landscape design are increasingly used, the decorative forms of which allow giving the garden space depth, volume and special sophistication.
Secrets of the popularity of ornamental cereals
Ornamental cereals, which include many types of ornamental grasses, as well as representatives of the family of not only cereals, but also cattails, grass and sedge, can have a wide variety of colors and shapes.
Cereals - plants that are discreet at first glance, are able to give any landscape corner special expressiveness and delicacy
They are attractive at any time of the year: in the spring they form lush carpets, which in the summer and fall dress up in elaborate panicles and spikelets, and with the onset of winter they create fabulous reliefs under the cover of snow, giving the garden a special mystery. Even after cutting, cereals are able to maintain an attractive appearance for a long time. They are indispensable in the design of dry bouquets and floral arrangements.
But the main secret of the popularity of plants lies not only in their decorative appeal. One of the key trends in landscape design in recent years is the low maintenance of the garden, which involves a minimum of efforts to care for green spaces on the site.
Cereal crops are mostly unpretentious, which makes them a desirable "resident" in any area. They are often used in the design of rocky gardens, landscaping ponds and decorating flower gardens
Cereals easily tolerate both an abundance of moisture and a prolonged drought. They are highly resistant to pests and diseases. A characteristic feature of cereal crops is the ability to easily get along with representatives of other plant species. Due to this, they are often involved in the preparation of mixed flower beds and mixborders.
Note! Cereals of light shades, reflecting the sun's rays, protect themselves and neighboring plants from overheating.
Decorative varieties of cereals
All cereals can be divided into two main groups: annuals and perennials. Each of them in terms of landscape design is interesting in its own way.
Annual cereals are attractive due to the presence of variegated and unusual inflorescences, which are a bright decoration of the plant composition
Perennials are interesting for their decorative foliage, which is able to delight the eye for several seasons.
Undersized varieties of cereals
Low cereals, whose height does not exceed 20-50 cm, are good as ground cover crops. They are used in the design of rocky gardens, rock gardens and rockeries, as well as borders and carpet flower beds.
Fescue can give vivid touches to rocky hills, which, due to the variety of varieties, can have dark olive, grayish-green, blue and saturated blue shades
As a framing of the paths, a breeze bonfire, a hare tail, a bead, golden lamarckia, maneous barley can be made. For dense spiky panicles and decorative foliage among many gardeners, an elegant thin-legged is appreciated. A spectacular combination with beautifully flowering perennials gives the ryegrass variegated bulbous.
Mid-sized crops
Medium-sized cereals, the height of which varies in the range of 50-100 cm, are good for decorating mixborders and multi-tiered flower beds. Among this group of cereals, feather grasses are considered the most beautiful. Plant spines swaying from the wind blow are simply mesmerizing with their grace and beauty.
Since the feather grass grows in nature in the steppe, when creating picturesque corners on the site, it is used to design rocky slides and as small group landings
Among the decorative varieties in the mid-layer group, it is also possible to distinguish: oats, cirrus bristles, Canarian falaris. They go well with wildflowers: daisies and poppies, salvia and cornflowers.
Against the background of a rocky garden, the brilliant cecleria stands out spectacularly - perennial decorated with olive-white spikelets, framed by evergreen foliage of an amazing silver-green hue
Tall cereal species
Tall types of cereals, whose height is one meter or more, are used to create a background in multi-level plant compositions, as well as screens and screens. Bright representatives of tall varieties are the handsome penniesetums.
Extraordinarily beautiful penisetum gray with maroon spikelets and bronze-red leaves. The shaggy penisetum with fluffy purple panicles also looks original
No less interesting are the decorative varieties of pearl barley. Its purple spikelets with whitish inflorescences can become a real decoration of a shady garden.
Tall cereals are good both in group plantings and as tapeworms. Tall cereals give an effective combination in the neighborhood with conifers: against the background of evergreen conifers associated with constancy, cereals act as a kind of symbol of perpetual motion.
Due to the fact that cereals calmly tolerate an excess of moisture, they are often used for landscaping artificial reservoirs
Video clip: “Cereals in garden design”
To decorate a picturesque corner on the shore of a reservoir, you can use decorative varieties of double-leafed, Miscanthus, blue lightning. Blooming in the second half of summer, they form real impenetrable screens, decorated with green-white, golden-yellow and purple-burgundy ears and panicles.
