Which Ornamental Grasses Are Evergreen?

Although ornamental grasses often take on beautiful colors in the fall and winter (even though this is actually the process of dying off), there are also ornamental grasses that actually remain green in the winter.

Ornamental Grasses That Stay Green: Evergreen Ornamental Grasses

• Acorus calamus (calamus) *

• Acorus gramineus (dwarf sweet flag) *

• Carex foliosissima (sedge)

• Carex morrowii (Japanese sedge)

• Carex oshimensis (Japanese sedge)

• Carex pendula (giant sedge)

• Cortaderia selloana (pampas grass)

• Cortaderia pumila (dwarf pampas grass)

• Equisetum japonicum (Japanese horsetail) *

• Festuca gautieri (fescue)

• Festuca glauca (blue fescue)

• Liriope muscari (lilyturf) *

• Luzula nivea (field sedge)

• Luzula sylvatica (large wood rush)

• Ophiopogon (black grass) *

• Sesleria autumnalis (blue grass)

• Sesleria caerelea (blue grass)

* Not actually a true grass, but a perennial plant.

Bamboo as an Alternative to Ornamental Grass

In addition to the various evergreen ornamental grasses and evergreen perennials that closely resemble ornamental grasses in appearance, you could also opt for bamboo. Of course, most types of bamboo do grow taller. But if that’s not a problem, you can also achieve a similar look with bamboo.

Bamboo comes in both the invasive bamboo species (such as Phyllostachys) and Fargesia species (tumor-forming but not malignante bamboo).