Larry Smith and the Riverside Gardens team talk all things pots, plants and pruning in their weekly gardening column.

Low ornamental grasses and strappy foliage can add much needed contrast to a garden, but they are so often overlooked when people are considering their plant selection.

They can be useful as garden fillers, borders, weed suppressors, erosion control, mass plantings, and even adding texture to the garden with their different foliage form.

Some of the finer weeping foliage forms can even soften a garden as they contrast against the harder ridged forms of the surrounding plants.

With the wide variety of low ornamental grasses and strappy foliage plants available in garden centres today, you can usually find one to suit most growing conditions and soil types that will add that bit of difference to your garden.

So, here are some of my favourite and not so favourite ones that are well suited to our region.

Festuca glauca or blue festuca, is a no-nonsense low maintenance soft looking clump-forming ornamental grass with striking icy blue to silver-grey foliage.

It typically grows in a neat, rounded mound reaching 20 to 30cm in height.

It can be used for borders, but lends itself for use in rock gardens and mass plantings.

Liriope is a family of strappy leafed flowering plants that can handle a wide range of soil types and growing conditions from full sun to quite heavy shade.

They range in height from 20cm high to about 60cm, depending on the variety.

In our region, they will often flower twice a year with a like flowering in spring and a heavy flowering now.

Their flowers come in a range of colours including royal purple, pink and white.

Their leaf is usually deep green, but there are also some beautiful yellow/green variegated foliage forms, one of which we have recently started doing a border within our golf gardens.

Carex Feather Falls is tough leafed a low-maintenance, evergreen, sedge grass with fine, arching, green-and-cream variegated foliage and a heavy cascading habit.

Growing to 30-50cm high, it thrives in full sun to part shade, is drought/frost-tolerant, and perfect for borders, hanging baskets, planters or mass planting.

Carex Testacea, orange sedge, is a much finer but still tough leafed New Zealand native sedge.

It forms graceful, weeping, mounded clumps to about 30 to 60cm high. Grown mainly for its fine, olive-green foliage that turns a vibrant orange-bronze, especially in full sun.

This Carex has been known to be invasive in some regions of Australia, but is well-behaved around our neck of the woods.

Flax lily or Dianella is a family of tough, low-maintenance, drought-and-frost-tolerant plants with many that are native to Australia.

Many of them, like Dianella Revoluta, produce edible, sweet, grape-like purple berries which can be eaten raw or cooked.

However, some species, such as Dianella tasmanica, are considered toxic or have a burning, unpleasant taste.

They thrive in full sun to part shade, tolerate varied soil conditions, and are ideal for erosion control, borders, and group plantings.

They will grow from 30 to 60cm high and can be divided up as they grow.

Keep an eye out for varieties like Little Rev, Breeze, Clarity Blue, Cassa Blue and Silverado.

Tulbaghia violacea, commonly known as Society Garlic, is low growing, hardy, clumping plant native to southern Africa.

It is a popular choice for many, but not one for my liking, because of its pungent fragrance.

It is widely known for its delicate lilac-pink flowers and its ability to grow in hot harsh conditions and is both drought and heat tolerant.

There are some newer released varieties like Tulbaghia Dark Stars — deep pink flower; Fairy Star — pink, white flowers; Milky Way — pale pink to whitish flowers; Galaxy — purple, pink flowers, and Starburst — lilac pink flowers, which are worth considering if you are going down this path.

They have a finer leaf and more delicate appearance.

Lomandra grasses have been a popular choice in commercial landscapes and public spaces for quite a while, but they are often overlooked for the home gardens.

A lot of the newer release varieties certainly have characteristics that lend themselves to this use, particularly in native gardens, or difficult to grow environments.

Lomandra are typically very hardy and will tolerate most growing conditions from extreme wet to drought.

They are happy in either full sun or shade and will cope with a wide range of soil types and pH levels.

The striking forms of the newer Lomandra varieties makes them ideal for accent plantings, mass plantings, borders and feature planting.

Their adaptability makes them ideal for rain gardens or areas that may become wet and boggy from time to time.

Popular varieties to look for include Tanika, Lime Wave Seascape, Lime Tuff, Little Con, Misty Green, Nyalla and Savanna Blue.

Thysanotus muliflorus, the fringe lily, is a Western Australian native grass like plant with attractive narrow bluish-green foliage and masses of delicately purple, fringed flowers in spring.

They are just as suited to a hot sunny native garden as a courtyard or cottage garden.

They have a short, but quite stunning flowering period, and well worth growing.

I know ornamental grasses and strappy foliage plants are not everyone’s cup of tea, but with all the foliage forms colours uses and textures, they can bring they certainly deserve some consideration.

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Thursday, 1st October 2026

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