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Ornamental Grasses

Freeze damage...now what?

17 years ago

The late spring freeze (27 degrees) we had Saturday night/Sunday morning appears to have damaged my ornamental grasses. I've got a Japanese silver grass and four Shenandoah red switch grasses. The silver grass looks dreadful - brown and faded with crumpling blades. The Shenandoahs are blackened and soft (like the ruined new leaves on some of my shrubs). Both varieties had about 12 inches of new growth and all of it appears to be affected.

I'm new at growing ornamental grasses so I am not very smart about it. I did cover these for that night with the lowest temperature but it didn't help. My question is: now what do I do? Should I just wait and see if they regrow? Should I cut them back like I did earlier in spring? Will they grow again?

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Comments (5)

achnatherum
17 years ago
I would just leave them for now & wait for signs of new growth. Two reasons ... you don't want to cut into good growth that might be under your blackened leaves and you don't want to expose new tender fresh stuff .... just in case we get more of this weather. Once the weather warms up for good and once your grasses are showing new healthy growth - then trim away the ugly bits. The grass itself should be fine - fingers crossed!

Mother Nature has had a bad sense of humour this year! :o(
A.
lindakimy
Original Author
17 years ago
Is that what it was? I wondered if she might have some hormonal issues! Poor dear.

Thanks for the response. It will be sad seeing the aftermath of this nasty cold spell every day but what you say sounds very logical.

Before this distraction I HAD been agonizing about a couple of Hameln's that STILL haven't shown any sign of new growth this spring. They are either dead or way smarter than my other perennials.
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grass_guy
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I agree with A. I wouldn't worry in zone 7 about those grasses. Miscanthus and Panicums resp[ond to two things, light and warmth. As soon as they get those, you'll see them popping up nice new growth!

I'd also be real surprised if your Hameln doesn't make it. There's lots of energy under the gorund in those zone 7 grasses.

Mother Nature sure did have some fun this week. We actually had ice sitting in our Sago palms 2 inches deep Sunday morning. Unheard of here in my area...especially on Easter!
lindakimy
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for the encouragement, Grass Guy. I sure hope the Hamelns make it - they are in the most perfect spot! But I did only put them in last fall (marked down to a reasonable price in gallon size containers). I don't know how much root growing they did during the winter. They were already pretty brown before I put them in.

As for Zone 7...I may actually be Zone 8. According to Southern Living's maps I am. Changed zones and didn't move! Global warming? Not this past week!!
dereks
17 years ago
My miscanthus and pennisetums were terribly damaged by one night of a hard freeze this week. This seems to happen every year. New growth will appear soon. I wish my grasses didn't wake up so early.

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