Essential Plants For Windy Gardens

Some gardens have challenging microclimates. One of them is very windy situations. The wind dries the soil and gives physical challenges to the plants. In that case, it’s essential to go with the flow and choose plants that are used to these conditions and flourish in them.

Wind and Grasses Go Together

To stand the wind, you got to be able to bend, be flexible and get back up quickly. When thinking of plants like that, what comes to your mind? Could you possibly see a field of hay moving and flowing in a breeze? They express the movement of the wind. They go with it and benefit the wind as it also spreads their pollen and helps new seeds to develop.

If you have got a windy site, I suggest adding ornamental grasses into your planting areas. They give relaxing movement and feel very natural in your garden. You can even use them to create some shelter from the wind for your perennials, so the wind does not damage their flowers so easily. 

3 Best Hardy Ornamental Grasses for Windy Sites

Some very trustworthy ornamental grasses for windy sites are:
- Purple moor grass (Molinia caerulea subs. arundinacea), non-spreading clumps, any reasonable soil, USDA hardiness 5 to 8
- Feather reed grass (Calamagrostis acutiflora ’ Karl Foerster’), non-spreading clumps, well-drained moist to dry sites even in heavy clay, USDA hardiness 5 to 9 
- Sand ryegrass (Leymus arenarius), spreading so plant in the restricted planting area, (invasive in coastal regions and dunes), from dry to moist, USDA hardiness 4 to 9

Combine Grasses with Flowering Perennials  

You might be wondering which perennials you could combine with your ornamental grasses on a windy site, though. If you have a garden on a windy hilltop in dry conditions, you could try the perennials that I suggested to combine with feather reed grass in a previous blog post >> HERE <<. 

READ MORE:

Flowering plants for dry windy conditions

How to create exciting flower color combinations

Could natural planting style be for you? 

Two things yo need before planting your garden in the natural style

The 5 plant categories you need for natural planting style