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Lyme grass is an ornamental perennial that tolerates a wide range of soils from wet to dry and will solve problems in a landscape: plant it to prevent erosion, as a ground cover, or in sandy soil..
Sand-loving, hardy, and fast-growing, lyme grass (Leymus arenarius) can solve many problems in a landscape. Just be careful not to create new ones with this aggressive, rhizomatous ornamental grass.
“How do you use lyme grass smartly?” asks our contributor Kier Holmes. “Specific situations that may call for lyme grass include: erosion control, to stabilize sand dunes, or as a wide-spreading, fast-growing ground cover in sunny areas.)
A foolproof way to use Leymus arenarius: contain its rampant roots in planters. If you’re trying to choose an ornamental grass for a landscape (or to decide on a planting scheme that mixes more than one), start with the tips in our curated guide to Grasses 101. We’ve got design guides for Basket Grass, Feather Reed Grass, Fountain Grass, and dozens more.
And don’t miss landscape architect Scott Lewis’s virtuoso garden of grasses in northern California, at Vineyard Haven: A Napa Valley Garden That Belongs to the Land.