Saturday, October 10, 2009

Ornamental grasses round up




The ornamental grasses 'graminacei' have been a mixed bag: some of the tall feathery ones have been a real delight, Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Overdam’ has been in 'flower' since June and has provided reflections and movement against the water. Miscanthus sinensis ‘Yukushima Dwarf’ started to flower with different shades of plumes in September and is already forming nice clumps of grass. Miscanthus sinensis ‘Zebrinus’ is less strong growing but the striped leaves are very attractive. Deschampsia cespitosa and Panicum Virgatum are other feathery tall grasses which seem to have survived without much water. Andropogon scoparsi has interesting red colouration against the blue stems but is flopping about so rather untidy. The blue Elymus Prairie grass is also spreading well and provides a sharp steely blue contrast. Festuca is surviving and has some fine points of flowers but does not seem to be spreading much. Stipa also is surviving and sending up new green stems amongst the bunches of dry 'bad hair day' grass.
But anything in the
Carex family has been pretty disappointing, despite copious watering (by my standards). Mostly they are dried up and it is hard to know whether they are dead or might revive with the winter rains (if we get any). Should I dig them all up now or wait until spring?
Y

4 comments:

Nell Jean said...

I vote for spring digging for grasses, just before they get new growth really going.

Nice post. The only ornamentals I grow are lemon grass and vetiver, but I aspire to muhly grass. There are many native grasses in the meadows, but I don't 'grow' them, they seed themselves.

Flowers said...

Thanks for sharing the pictures of varieties of grass. Never seen such a large variety of grass.

Rowena said...

Hi Yvonne, thanks for the fave! How wonderful to be gardening in Umbria, and it already looks like you know more than you modestly reveal at blotanical. The only grasses I know are pampas and the lawn that needs to be mowed once a week. Look forward to more updates on your gardening attempts.

Bay Area Tendrils said...

Yvonne,
I would leave the Carex undisturbed. They will most likely come to life with the winter rains! Let me know if they perk up ;~D Alice