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Ornamental Grasses

Will sprouting new grass kill my ornamental plants?

12 years ago

Hi there:

I just planted some fountain grass, blue fescue and cordyline. However, I had reseeded my lawn a few weeks ago and since nothing appeared, I'd assumed the new grass didn't survive. However, now I have some newly seeded lawn creeping up around where I planted my ornamamentals. Should I be picking out this new lawn or will it be fine surrounding the plants? Thanks in advance!

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Comments (3)

cactusgarden
12 years ago
I would weed it out unless you want grass in there. The sooner the better before it takes over and gets a real foothold. Pulling beats digging.
donn_
12 years ago
The new turf grass won't bother your OG's, but it will bother you. You won't be able to mow up close to the OG's, and that means extra trimming.

Eliminate the turf grass for at least a couple of feet around the crowns of the OG's. Mulch the soil after getting rid of the lawn grass.
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It's called fallowing, and it's done just the way you described. Water shallow and often as if you were trying to raise grass seed. Then whack it with RoundUp. It's not on the bottle, but it's safe to put down grass seed a few hours after the RoundUp is dry. After the grass seed establishes, move to deep/infrequent watering - that will make the grass healthier and will avoid a lot of weed sprouting.
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I agree with georich's idea of curving beds to soften your square patio! Curved beds add a lot of interest and give you more depth for planting. I've had good luck with two particular grasses and since we are both in the same zone I think they would be a good choice. I love Feather Reed Grass 'Karl Foerster,' which gets about 3-5 feet high and 1.5-2.5' wide. It gets beautiful wheat like plumes in summer and still offers winter interest. My other favorite grass is fountain grass 'hameln,' which grows 1.5-2.5' in heighth and width. Planted near my grasses are heuchera, astilbe, catmint, coreopsis, salvia and I use some ajuga for groundcover. I know some people complain that ajuga can be invasive, but in zone 5 I don't find that to be true. This past winter nearly killed a few mounds of it! Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Feather Reed Grass
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Karl Foerster is a cool season grass and starts growth (and blooms) long before most of the other grasses. I assume you've cut them all back. Peer inside the clumps and see if you don't see a little new growth.
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They should pretty much all be active by now. Some of my cool season grasses are already blooming, and tall grasses, both cool and warm season, are as tall as 4' by now. It's hard to say what got them. Did you have a colder or wetter than usual winter? What did you mulch them with? Do they have adequate drainage? What species and cultivars did you plant? Where did they come from?
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kidhorn
12 years ago
You can put newspaper around the base of the OG's and cover the newspaper with mulch. I do that all the time. It kills whatever is growing under the newspaper and the newspaper ink contains zinc which prevents seeds from germinating. After a couple of years, the newspaper will disappear.

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