Ornamental grasses add texture, movement, and vibrancy to gardens. German horticulturist and nurseryman Karl Foerster, who popularized ornamental grasses in the 1930’s, referred to them as ‘the hair of the earth’.
This striking metaphor echoes the way grasses are used to cover bare soil in the gardens of Japan. There, and in Japanese-style gardens throughout the world, they form a ‘living mulch’.
The stems of Japanese forest grass bend in only one direction, which gives forest grass its unique grace.