Yellow Ornamental Grasses

A growing garden trend is the inclusion of ornamental grasses in the landscape, and not just as a separate grass garden, but often as part of a mixed border. Here are some varieties of grasses to add to your yellow garden bed or border.

Bowles Golden Sedge (Carex elata ‘Aurea’) – Zones 5-9. This perennial sedge grass has a flowing, graceful movement to the foliage that adds an interesting accent to the garden landscape. Bowles golden sedge is a shorter grass, reaching only 18-24inches tall, so it is a nice ornamental grass for smaller garden areas. This sedge grass prefers moist soil and will even tolerate growing in the shallows of a bog or pond with water an inch or two deep. If growing Bowles sedge grass in a garden area consider lining the planting hole with plastic to help retain water and keep the soil moist. Grow this golden colored grass in part shade to full shade conditions.

Golden Variegated Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonchloa macra ‘Aureola’) – Zones 5-9. This medium sized ornamental grass adds a tropical feel to the garden brightening up a part shade area of the garden. The Japanese forest grass grows about 3 feet tall and is a slow grower that won’t take over your garden in an invasive way. The leaves are relatively pest free and will provide eye-catching movement to a yellow themed garden, as the leaves are bright yellow in color with thin green edges.

Variegated Ogon Grass (Acorus gramineus ‘Ogon’) – Zones 7-11. This golden ornamental grass only grows about 10 inches tall and adds a bright accent to shady, moist garden areas. The Ogon grass has golden foliage with green variegation throughout. In protected areas this grass will be evergreen providing year round interest in the yellow themed garden.

Yellow Foxtail Grass (Alopecurus pratensis ‘Aureus’) – Zones 4-8. This beautiful, gold grass grows 1-3′ tall and does well in full to part shade garden areas. Yellow foxtail grass isn’t drought tolerant though so keep it moderately watered through the growing season. Some specific plants have light green stripes through the foliage but the overall effect is a bright, glowing yellow. Propagate through division, which also helps the foxtail grass maintain the clump-like look in the yellow themed garden unless you want to let it spread slightly to create a mass effect.

See more resources for Yellow Themed Garden Plants.