What is it? Wednesday – Karl Foerster Grass
One of my favourite plants is Karl Foerster feather reed grass. If you’ve never grown grasses before, this is the one to start with.
Super hardy and easy to grow, Karl Foerster is an early-season grass. It’s often up to my knees in June before a lot of other grass varieties are even showing.
Karl Foerster has a very upright growing habit, one I often compare to having a Mountie standing at attention. Its narrow foliage will reach a height of four feet with a spread of two feet. In July, its narrow, timothy-like flowers appear in a silvery purple colour which mature to a golden wheat shade by fall. It is very wind tolerant, disease and insect-free, and zone hardy.
Karl serves as a wonderful screen to create privacy or to hide eyesores. It gives height in a perennial bed and it’s also one of the few grasses that will overwinter in containers.
Garth Davey, March 2022