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Grasses and grass-like plants 2012
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Many gardeners don’t use grasses (other than lawn grass) very much. But grasses are important for holding the soil in place and as larval host plants for many butterflies. They add peaceful, natural forms to a planting and are particularly beautiful in and next to water. Experiment with grasses if you want your garden to mimic nature.
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Andropogon eucomus
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Snowflake Grass
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1m, sun, perennial, decorative white flowerheads
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Aristea woodii
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Wood's Aristea
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Sword-shaped leaves clumping 30cm. Semi-shade. Pretty blue flowers.
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Aristida junciformis
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Ngongoni Three-awn
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Ornamental tufted grass, 1m, honey-coloured flowers; thrives in poor soils.
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Carex ecklonii
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Cape Fen Grass
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Clumping grass from the Eastern Cape for damp areas
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Chlorophytum saundersiae
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Weeping Anthericum
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40cm, sun/shade, white flowers all year.
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Cyperus prolifer
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Dwarf Papyrus
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70cm dwarf sedge, sun, damp soil. Very attractive.
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Cyperus sexangularis
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Ribbed Star Sedge
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60cm sedge, damp to wet soil. Nest material for birds.
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Dietes bicolor
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Peacock Flower
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1m clumping with grass-like leaves, sun/semi-shade; pretty yellow flowers.
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Dietes flavida
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Natal Wild Iris
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70cm, sun/shade, attractive, pale yellow flowers
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Dietes grandiflora
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Large Wild Iris
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1m, sun/shade; pretty, large white flowers all year.
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Elegia tectorum
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Dekriet
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1m. Low maintenance feature plant. Sun, damp to dry sandy soil.
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Eleocharis limosa
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Toothbrush Sedge
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1m clumping sedge, unusual flowers, thrives in moist places in sun/semi
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Eragrostis capensis
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Heartgrass
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Medium clumping grass with attractive inflorescence
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Eragrostis curvula
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Weeping Love Grass
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Sun; robust tufted grass good for stabilising exposed soil
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Isolepis prolifera
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Creeping Sedge
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20cm, fine-leaved plant for damp spots. Spreads vegetatively with leaf-tips
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Juncus effusus
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Spreading Rush
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Tufted perennial sedge, 1m, prefers damp to wet soil.
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Juncus kraussii
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Matting Rush
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1.5 m, sun, damp-marshy soil, ornamental,
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Juncus lomatophyllus
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Leafy Juncus
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Attractive rush for marshy soil.
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Mariscus solidus
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Saw Sedge
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1.5m, sun, damp to wet areas, massive brown flowerhead
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Melinis nerviglumis
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Bristle-leaved Red Top
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1m, perennial, tufted grass. Lovely red inflorescence.
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Melinus nerviglumis
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Natal Red Top
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Grass, 1m, sun. Red inflorescence used in floral arrangements.
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Miscanthus capensis
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Daba Grass
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Up to 2m tufted grass with silky red-brown inflorescence, damp areas
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Scirpus ficinioides
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Mountain Rush
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50cm, damp to marshy soil, compact brown flowerheads.
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Setaria megaphylla
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Broad-leaved Bristle Grass
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2m, sun/shade. Mannekins love the seeds.
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Setaria sphacelata
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Bristle Grass
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Graceful clumping grass with attractive golden inflorescence spikes; birds
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Setaria sphacelata
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Bristle Grass
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Graceful clumping grass with attractive golden inflorescence spikes; birds
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Typha capensis
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Cape Bulrush
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Deciduous wetland plant, 1.5m, colonising shallow water. Red-brown inflorescence
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