Selecting and Using Ornamental Grasses
March 18 – Speaker Robert Herman of New Hartford, Conn.
When we consider the popularity of grasses in American gardens and landscapes, we must turn to Germany, and specifically to esteemed nurserymen Karl Foerster (think: feather reed grass, Calamagrostis × acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’) and Ernst Pagels (think: any number of Miscanthus cultivars).
It was Foerster’s book “The Introduction of Grasses and Ferns into Gardens,” published in the 1960s, that marks what Robert Herman says was “really the beginning of the use of grasses in contemporary gardens.” To Robert’s knowledge, the book has never been translated in its entirety into English. But he has read it in German and says the writing is exquisitely poetic and philosophic.
Meanwhile in the 1960s, Michigan-born landscape designer James van Sweden was studying and working in Holland. He later went into partnership with the German landscape architect and horticulturalist, Wolfgang Oehme, in Washington, D.C. The firm gained prominence and their signature pairings of perennials and grasses—including the now-ubiquitous rudbeckia-sedum-grasses combination—were widely copied.
“Van Sweden called their style the ‘New American Garden,’” Robert says, “but really it was the old Karl Foerster garden.”
Robert’s words are backed by special knowledge and experience. From 1987 to 1994, he worked in southwestern Germany near the Black Forest as “Meister” or chief horticulturalist for the Countess von Zeppelin Nursery, which boasted more than 4,000 different plant species and cultivars. The nursery’s breeding efforts focused on bearded irises, oriental poppies, bergenias and saxifrages. And, of course, the nursery offered many grasses for sale.
There are numerous beautiful grasses, some well known and some relatively obscure, for every habitat, from sunny, dry locations to wet or shady spots. In his talk, Robert will delve into the reasons for using grasses, how to place them and how to select the right ones for a specific gardening situation.
Robert has more than 30 years’ experience as a professional horticulturalist, including at the Missouri Botanical Garden. While in Germany, he served on the German Committee for Evaluating Perennial Plants. Returning to the United States, he signed on for five years as director of horticulture for White Flower Farm in Morris. From 1999 to 2007, he headed his own international consulting and plant export-import business, Uncommon Plants.
Robert currently is acting head of the horticulture department at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury, where he teaches courses in plant materials, botany and landscape design. He also has taught at the University of Massachusetts, in the graduate program in landscape design at Radcliffe College, and in the international master of architecture program at Anhalt University in Bernburg, Germany.
His articles have appeared in several publications, including American Nurseryman, Greenscene and the Hardy Plant Society Journal in England.
To Robert, a garden is a place where one goes to relax, and the naturalistic qualities of grasses help create a restful ambiance. “They really give you that feeling of communing with nature,” he says. “They give the feeling of movement and life to the garden. And if you place them well, that backlighting (provided by the sun) is really fantastic.”
To learn more about Robert Herman, visit www.uncommanplants.com. To learn which national award Robert has just won, come to the CHS meeting on March 18. The award is being announced in early March; he is sworn to secrecy until then.