Leave Ornamental Grasses Alone Until Spring by Nancy Shepard

 

Ruby Muhly Photo: Plant Select

As we see plants in our garden die off, some of us might have the urge to tidy everything up. One of the plant categories that can benefit most from a hands-off approach are the ornamental grasses.

Not So Fast! Gardening Tips for Early Spring by Donna Duffy

Yes, it does feel a bit like Spring outside. And yes, there are signs of life in your yard and garden. As tempting as it is, don’t go full-force into your gardening mode quite yet. Following are some gardening chores you can start right now, and others that you’ll need to wait to begin.

Dividing Perennials by Donna Duffy

If your garden looks like mine, you probably have lots of overgrown perennials. The abundance of rain during the past couple of months has encouraged lots of plant growth. Take a walk around your garden and make note of plants that are ready to be divided.

Northern Sea Oats – a great match for your garden

Northern Sea Oats would make a great personal ad: pretty, flexible and low maintenance, likes relaxing in the sun or reclining in the shade (not sure about long walks on the beach), not over-bearing and not attractive to deer.  Sound appealing?

Most ornamental grasses do best in full sun but Northern Sea Oats grass, Chasmanthium latifolium, is very adaptable to a wide variety of growing conditions including shade. It’s a really unique grass with interesting seed heads.  Looking at the seed heads you are immediately reminded of fish skeletons hanging in clusters from each stalk or also flattened oats but I prefer the fish comparison. 

Cutting and Disposal of Tall, Dry Ornamental Grasses by Gardener Dave

Many ornamental grasses grow quite tall, to 5 feet and even much taller. They can remain quite attractive during the winter in their erect dry state, unless the snow breaks them down. Then they become messy. However, they can be cut down and disposed of after they are dried, in the fall, winter or early spring.

Handling these long dry grasses once they are cut off can be very messy, as the dry blades are pesky to chase and pick up, especially if it’s windy. Why chase loose blades when there is a better way?

“Harvesting” Tall Ornamental Grasses by Gardener Dave

In the last several years, ornamental grasses have become very popular in our area. Many of these grasses grow quite tall, to 5 feet and even much taller. They generally remain quite attractive during the winter in their dry state, unless the snow breaks them down. Then they become unattractive and messy. They can be cut down after they are dried, in the fall, winter or early spring. I leave the shorter varieties up, but I make it a practice to cut the taller ones before we have a heavy snow. My row of Miscanthus “Morning Light” clumps along our front steps has grown too large to leave up during the winter, even though they were planted over 3 feet away from the steps. Uncut, they would also take up room that I need to deposit snow shoveled from my steps.

Handling these long grasses once they are broken down and cut off can be very messy, and the individual dry blades are pesky to chase in a wind and pick up if not tightly bound together. I have found that the best way to handle these tall grasses is to cut them before snow comes.

Bundle them before cutting, using long (approx. 3-foot) plastic “Zip Ties”. These are available at the “Big Box” stores such as Home Depot and Lowe’s in packages of 10 or so. You can put two or more of these ties together end to end to make a tie of the length needed, placing them about halfway up the grass bundle. Tighten them gradually as you cut through the stalks – I prefer using an electric hedge trimmer for cutting at about 6 inches above the ground – and you will wind up with a tight, compact bundle.

The plastic ties can be removed and re-used if you want to tie the bundles with twine, etc. for disposal. Just insert the tip of a small flat screwdriver into the tie where the “zipper” locks, and it can be easily “unzipped” and removed. However, I prefer to leave a (shorter) plastic tie on the bundle for trash pickup, especially if your trash pickup will be several days in the future. The plastic tie can be easily re-tightened as the bundle dries, whereas cord or twine is not that easily re-tightened and may allow much of the dried grass to slip out when someone tries to pick it up.

I hope you find this “handling hint” useful. I have chased too many loose dry ornamental grass leaves in the wind to do the job any other way. I hope the snow has not yet broken your tall grasses down!

Cheers,
Gardener Dave