In praise of simple pleasures

Over the last few weeks I've found myself distracted by the strangest things; consumer electronics, vehicles, new possessions - distractions that I thought I was inured against in our new simpler life. It has been odd to find that I'm keen on a fancy thin television set, that I still mourn my old x-box and that my head is turned by a shiny red Ford Ranger. So you can imagine how relieved I was this week to rediscover an old distraction. Grasses...

The first snow of the winter fell recently and while I was out with the dog I noticed that two of my favourite grasses were poking out of the snow - still vibrant and a stunning shock of colour against the white.

Late in the autumn, I dug and planted a new bed in our Japanese garden, mainly to accommodate a lovely prostrate pine that I had been given - I had the happy thought of moving my favourite grasses over to complement the planting so I shifted my Japanese Blood Grass (Imperata cylindrica "Red Baron") and my Black Mondo Grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus nigrescens)

Black Mondo grass isn't actually a grass (it's a member of the lily family) but its dark purple almost black blades are grass like and beautiful. It is one of the loveliest things that I have seen.

Unfortunately I didn't have the presence of mind to take photos, hopefully I'll remember next snow fall, but in true Blue Peter style here's a photo of the unfinished bed that I took earlier.

The Blood grass is looking a little sorry for itself now, but the Mondo grass is still stiff and perky in the chill November air.

My love of grasses has been reinvigorated by my study of them at college. I have been fascinated by the Miscanthus genus, the striking inflorescence and variety of blade colour, the soft nature of Pennisetum orientalis, and the sheer impudence of Calamagrostis acutifolia 'Karl Forster'.

The amazing differences in how they sit in the landscape fascinates me and I have plans to install a grass only bed in the gardens here at some point. Needless to say, when it comes to propagate these grasses at college, there will be a few small examples propagated for my own collection, (legitimately of course thanks to the generosity of my prop lecturer).