By James McNair
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Anne and Cooper Burchenal, owners of Ohio River Grass. (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

If it's sod you need, Ohio River Grass is not the place to shop.

But if prairie grass, broomsedge or little blue stem are on your list, you might want to pay a visit to Cooper and Anne Burchenal's picturesque outdoor showroom in Cincinnati's East End.

Here, in the bug-chirping serenity of Wenner Street, you will learn of the diversity of grass and its ability to dress up gardens and landscapes. Forget lawns. The 92 varieties of grass at Ohio River Grass want to be looked at, not stepped on.

"It requires much less maintenance than a lot of other plants," said Anne Burchenal. "You cut it once a year, you only need to water it during the introductory period, and many are pest-free. A lot are as beautiful during the winter as they are in the summer."

The Burchenals bought Ohio River Grass more than two years ago from Stuart Fink, an artist who made sculptures, grew ornamental grass - and sold both. Some of Fink's sculptures remain on the 3-acre property, as if to serve as homage to the divine grasses towering as much as 20 feet tall.

Cooper Burchenal considers the garden a "semi-public" property. An art show curated by Cincinnati artist Yvonne Van Eijden last September drew 250 people to Ohio River Grass - and will be repeated Sept. 27. The grass garden has also hosted fund-raisers for the Civic Garden Center and the Wild Ones Native Plant Society. Next week, the Burchenals will offer the first of 35 garden club tours to see the grasses in peak bloom.

The Burchenals possess the right talents to keep Fink's traditions going. Cooper, who grew up in Glendale and received a master of fine arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, is a painter and sculptor. Anne, from Pittsburgh, is a fledgling horticulturist. And to make sure their plants are in good hands, they hired Jim Hansel, former horticulture director at the Civic Garden Center, as manager.

Ohio River Grass sells grass from six continents, and 60 percent of its stock is imported. Selections range from the common Hameln fountain grass to the Siberian graybeard from Japan. Its most expensive grass, Japanese forest grass, costs $17 in a one-gallon container because it takes two seasons to reach a sellable size.

"I'd say 30 or 40 of our grasses are rare or hard to get," Cooper Burchenal said. "It can be a native Ohio grass, but really be difficult to go out and buy one. Or it can be a grass from Japan."

Through thicket and thin

A scan of the garden shows grass in myriad shapes, heights, girths and colors. Some grow in clumps. Some drop seed and spread. Some are dwarf varieties, while the giant reed grass, massing into what resembles a stand of corn, can reach 20 feet in height. Quite a few have feathery "flowers" pointing skyward or dangling in all directions. Others, like broomsedge, attract butterflies, while the seeds of Indian grass attract migrating birds.

Ohio River Grass sells to wholesale and retail customers. In the spring, Hansel said, commercial customers do more of the buying, while late summer and fall blooms attract retail customers as the growing season goes along. Garden centers, landscapers, landscape designs and governments all buy grass from the company.

Warren Klink, owner of Urban Thickets, a landscape design firm in Hamilton, said he has bought entire stocks of grasses from Ohio River Grass. He commended the Burchenals for maintaining and expanding on Fink's creation. He loves the idea of a store specializing in grass.

"It's an exciting concept because you can compare the growth qualities of the plants in close proximity to each other and can see the subtle characters of one versus the other," Klink said. "You get to see them down there in their mature size. So you can make intelligent choices."

Klink designed the city of Hamilton's gateway on the Michael A. Fox Highway (Ohio 129). It incorporates grasses from Ohio River Grass.

Anne Burchenal said she hopes the business spurs interest in native grasses, which she says are overlooked and almost forgotten. The little blue stem, she said, is an Ohio native that gives a blue-green tint to the garden, only to turn a coppery red and produce cottony seed heads in the fall.

"As you have all this suburban sprawl, all of this is cleared and what was common isn't common anymore," she said. "If you replace everything with lawns, you've eliminated what lives in this area."

Ambitious plans

Two owners ago, the Ohio River Grass property was a gravel lot, the vestiges of which are now mostly covered by topsoil and mulch. Cooper Burchenal said the city plans to build a bicycle trail along the Ohio River past his garden. By the time it's done, he wants to make Ohio River Grass one of the highlights of the new riverfront green belt.

"In two or three years, we want this to be one of the most interesting gardens in the city, where people can learn something if they want to, can buy something if they want to, or just meditate," he said.

Ohio River Grass

• Address: 220 E. Wenner St., East End.

• Product: 92 varieties of ornamental grass.

• Owners: Cooper and Anne Burchenal.

• Information: 871-1158.

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E-mail jmcnair@enquirer.com