Looking for a grass that tolerates shade, has great autumn foliage color, and is not invasive? Look no further than Hakonechloa macra, the Japanese Forest Grass or Hakone Grass. The hardest part about using this grass in your landscape may be the pronunciation of the name. For those of you who are sticklers about using botanical names, it’s ho-kon-ee-KLO-a, named for the Hakone hot springs region near Mount Hakone in Honshu, Japan. There it is found on both moist mountainous areas, including wet rocky cliffs, and on moist woodland areas. Hakonechloa is a monotypic genus, meaning that it has only one species, that being Hakonechloa macra.
Hakonechloa is a clump forming, slow spreading grass with arching blades resulting in a waterfall appearance. The green-leaved species grows to a height of 18 to 24 inches, but many of the cultivars mature at a lower height. All may take on colors of orange, purple, or red when temperatures drop in fall. Flowers are a light purple color when they first emerge in July and August, but then fade to tan, persisting into winter. No serious pest problems hinder its growth, but some winter protection may be warranted until it is well established. Not cutting the foliage back until spring and covering the plant in the winter with evergreen boughs help Hakone grass survive Southeast Wisconsin’s Zone 5 winters.
Use Hakonechloa to brighten shady areas and to provide textural contrast with large leaved plants such as Hostas. Massing them along a border results in a stunning display that will stop you in your tracks. You can also easily add more plants to your garden by dividing a mature clump. Japanese Forest Grass prefers evenly moist, but well drained soils in part shade. Too much shade for yellow leaved and variegated cultivars results in mostly green foliage. Too much sun may scorch the yellow or white striping, especially when the temperature is consistently above 80 degrees.
Plants of Hakonechloa may be all green, all yellow, or variegated in stripes of white, green, or yellow. The cultivar ‘All Gold,’ as the name implies, has yellow or lime green foliage, depending on the amount of sun that it is being grown in. The more sun, the yellower it will be. ‘Beni-Kaze’ is all green, changing to a reddish-purple color in autumn. ‘Nicolas’ is similar to ‘Beni-Kaze’ but smaller, maturing at only 6 to 9 inches tall. Use it in the front of a border or as a ground cover. ‘Aureola,’ the most popular cultivar, is gold striped and only 10 to 14 inches tall. The Perennial Plant Society selected this cultivar as its plant of the year in 2009. ‘Albo-striata’ and ‘Sunny Delight’ have the reverse variegation of ‘Aureola.’ Both have more green than yellow striping, resulting in more vigorous growth. In my garden both are about 18 to 20 inches.
Whether you garden in sun or shade, grasses should be part of your plant palette. Though more grasses prefer sun than shade, Japanese Forest Grass will make you glad that you garden in the shadows. Even now, in the midst of a Wisconsin winter, it provides textural and color interest. Look for Japanese Forest Grass cultivars in the catalogs that will soon arrive in your mailbox and at garden centers next spring.
The Cottage Gardener 