Panicum virgatum - floppy mess
aachenelf z5 Mpls
12 years ago
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coolplantsguy
12 years agoleslie197
12 years agoRelated Discussions
Sedum 'Autumn Joy' flower color
Comments (60)Mary, First I would say relax you really can't do any harm to these guys. I have divided them by simply taking my shovel and cutting them in half right in place not disturbing the one half. I have also dug the entire clump up and cut the plant in half with a saw, replanting one half. I have also dug up and potted pieces of plant material for a swap forgot them under a shrub and re-discovered them three years later still happily growing and ready for this years swap. If your clumps are very large make certain your shovel has a sharp edge as it will be difficult to cut through. What other plants are you growing with your sedum?...See MoreHow do you support big ornamental grasses?
Comments (41)Alright, I couldn't put it off any longer so I reread the thread, looked at the grasses, and faced certain aspects of reality, such as I have to do the work myself or pay someone else to do it. I thought hard about pounding rebar into my rocky soil, and I looked at the two big, heavy, old sledgehammers in the tool shed, and I quickly lowered my standards. Maybe metal fence posts with the U-shaped channel would pound into the ground easier, slipping in between the rocks. And a discussion with a few guys at Home Depot introduced me to a mini-sledgehammer that's more my size. So I ended up with a 28 inch vinyl-coated woven wire fence, attached to 3 ft fence posts pounded 1 foot into the ground so 2 feet remains above-ground. I placed the posts outside the grass clump to give them room to grow and also to let them spread out a bit at the top. It's all green, so in the winter I may have to do some camouflage such as nandina suggests. At least they sort of match the peony supports near them. Tools Grass Fence #1 Grass Fence #2 The wire fence fits nicely into the notches in the fence post and the flange footing should help keep it upright. I don't know if this is tall enough, but I plan to attach the 4 ft Y-stakes to the posts later in the season. I could fairly easily replace the 3 ft posts with 4 ft posts and just raise the fence. ex I used the loose ends of the fence to fasten the overlap. I also used some short black cable ties as fasteners. The operation was easier than I expected so it won't be so hard to talk myself into modifying the supports if I have to. I did manage to stomp on a few plants in the process, and working with curious, very thorny roses looking over your shoulder can be challenging. It's not very elegant and the green posts sort of annoy me, but it's a start. Now I have to wait and see if it works. Claire...See MoreDedicated Ornamental Grass Bed
Comments (4)Sounds like they are planted too close together woods tea. I've had the same problem and some selective thinning can add needed definition. The first time I did that it was with large grasses like deergrass if you can imagine those growing too close together up front. Now I use more smaller grasses and save those big ones for special spots. On my walk this evening I went down by the stream in the park and there is a mostly wild grassy area with some wildflowers coming up, the grass is dense. Its got areas of some kind of short fine light colored grass and then some deeper green thicker bladed stuff with rather nice seed heads actually, the variety of height and color are kind of nice but the thing that makes it really makes it nice are the many big chunks of concrete that lay about. They are the same as the chunks lining the edge all along the sloping side to prevent erosion. The grassy area is sort of like a large sandbar. The chunks of rough concrete defines the area and the grasses look good growing around them. Now if those were rocks rather than concrete, they'd really have something. These aren't real huge rocks, they would be liftable sizes with the aid of a dolly. I now know where I am throwing some native wildflower seeds this fall. Some annual gaillardia, rudbeckia, helenium, horsemint and perennial liatris would look quite nice coming up in there. There were some clumps of plains coreopsis coming up, I have that in my Hell Strip and like it among grasses but its fairly short blooming. My situation is just the opposite of yours, I planted too many native plants and not enough grasses. Thats changing and I'm seeing some good results this year. Several of the little bluestem plants are already putting up seed stalks. Must be all the rain. I've redone grass compositions so many times I figure someday I will finally get it right. My virgatums all exceed that height except the ones on the west side where its very dry, high and the ground is hard to deal with due to tree roots. Last year they came up to my chest. Even rothsthalsbusch (selling?) that is supposed to be short was taller than 36". More like just over 4ft....See More$3,000 flower bed?!?
Comments (38)Edge the pool with a wide strip of concrete or stone paving (much of the existing paving is going to turn out to be too narrow) and put a wall in to provide an adequately sized, paved seating area on the house side. If it gets too hot out there use patio umbrellas or install structural solutions like arbors or lath. Make the basic garden layout shrubs (or hedges) around the perimeter with grass in the center. Forget about a flower/herb/vegetable bed unless and until you are sure you will be willing and able to keep up with it. And then make a small, rectangular one using only variably sized rectangular groupings of multiple specimens each* of small, tidy clumping plants like chives and Coreopsis. Put it in a natural spot for a feature, with shrubs providing a backdrop - and near the house (I would have also put the pool near the house and not all the way at the back of the yard, sitting up high and exposed like an Aztec pyramid - but too late now). *Approximates general visual effect of interlocking drifts in a flowing informal border without nearly the same level of difficulty...See Moreaachenelf z5 Mpls
12 years agohostaholic2 z 4, MN
12 years agorusty_blackhaw
12 years agodenninmi
12 years agoterrene
12 years agodaniel26july
10 years agomoliep
10 years ago
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