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Tall perennials and grasses for the back of a border

Perennials and grasses 4 ft (120 cm) and taller, for the back of a border and its corners.

The back of a border is its skyline, and it should be one: up and down, not a level hedge of plants the same height. The planner never puts two plants of the same height side by side in the back row, and it plants the tallest of all in the back corners first, because the corners anchor the bed.

Tall perennials take a season or two to reach their full height, and the tallest may need staking in rich soil or a windy spot. Airy ones, with flowers held on thin stems, can come forward in front of shorter plants, which they veil instead of hiding. The list below gives each plant's height.

123 plants: 99 perennials and 24 grasses.

The dozen to start with

  • Tall verbena

    Tall verbena

    5 ft · late June to mid October · see-through

    Small clusters of lavender-purple flowers on tall, wiry, almost leafless stems, from midsummer to frost.

  • Hardy hibiscus

    Hardy hibiscus

    5 ft · late July to mid September

    Flowers the size of dinner plates in red, pink or white from late summer, on a shrub-sized perennial that dies to the ground each winter and reappears very late in spring.

  • Foxglove

    Foxglove

    4 ft · early June to mid July

    Tall spires of spotted, bell-shaped flowers bring height to part-shade beds in early summer.

  • Hollyhock

    Hollyhock

    6 ft · early July to late August

    Towering spires of wide, open flowers in almost every colour, the signature plant of the cottage garden.

  • Switchgrass 'Shenandoah'

    Switchgrass 'Shenandoah'

    4 ft · grown for its leaves · see-through · host plant

    Green blades turn wine-red from midsummer, topped by a cloud of fine, pink-tinged seed heads.

  • Purple fountain grass

    Purple fountain grass

    4 ft · late June to mid October

    Arching, burgundy-purple leaves and long, nodding, rose-red foxtail plumes from midsummer to frost.

  • Feather reed grass 'Karl Foerster'

    5 ft · late June to early October · see-through

    A narrow, bolt-upright grass with feathery plumes that turn wheat-gold and stand through winter.

  • Giant feather grass

    Giant feather grass

    6½ ft · mid June to early August · see-through

    From a low, evergreen tuft of narrow leaves, stems shoot up to two metres and open into great, shimmering heads of golden oats that last all summer.

All 123 plants

Show all 123, by where they go in a bed

Back of a bed 123

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