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How to grow pampas grass

4 years ago

I ordered DARK PINK pampas grass last year and it is HUGE....guess it likes where it is planted. Question: do I cut back all the grass which is laying on the ground.? It hasn’t bloomed yet, but it is beautiful.

Featured Answer

memetexas

4 years ago

The main memory I have of this plant was having my fingers sliced by the stems like a razor. If they freeze they have to be cut to the ground which is very labor intensive especially if they multiply from a one gallon size to 5x5 feet. If you have a pink one maybe it's hybrid that's been down breed to a dwarf size.

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Comments (8)

wantonamara Z8 CenTex
4 years ago
It will get HUGER. Is that a word? I grew to hate the yearly wack job . those saw edges just rip up your arms. I was told mine was a a dark pink and it was a mucous tan. god, I don't like raining on your parade. This was over 30 years ago. Maybe they got the color down during the 3 decades. i would cut the grass that is on the ground. Also keep an eye for a rotting dead spot in the center. one can dig it out or devide the plant when that happens. I hope your experience is better than mine. think they fudge those pictures. IMO
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What do I do with pampas grass?!?!
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I was just given some "Northern Pampas Grass" by a friend in Utah, Zone 5. I also am Zone 5 but in NM. In line with some of your suggestions, he cuts his back in the Spring and told me to do it early, or the new leaves will look blunt where they were cut. He says it will grow to 12 ft. I know that Pampas Grass has been outlawed in parts of Tucson, AZ because it is so invasive. I live in the middle of a national forest and do NOT want to introduce non-native plants to the wilderness. Is Norther Pampas Grass as invasive as Pampas Grass? My friend's wife said the NPG pops up very quickly where not planted. My friend says it can easily be pulled out the first year---but has a deep root if left to be established. Right now- I am thinking of growing in a pot on my patio- far from natural vegetation. Thanks for any advice.
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Question about growing flowers with pampas grass
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Lindsey, how much room are you giving the flowers fronting the cascade of pampas grass leaves? Pampas grass leaves are sawtoothed and as they blow in the breeze will tear up/damage foliage plants leaving them open to bugs,disease or loss of water. Pampas likes well drained soil on the medium to dry side. Tough competitor for moisture with flowering plants. I know the only thing I've been able to plant closely is yucca but the yucca spines made fall trim of the pampas a dangerous job. Good luck and if you find some plant material that will coexist with pampas please share that here with the rest of us.
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Pampas grass from seed ?
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It certainly gets to near 20 feet here in New Zealand, including flower stems. It grows very easily from seed, so much so that it is a banned plant with serious weed potential. Seeds can germinate 20 miles away from nearest plant, so germination must be easy. It grows everywhere in NZ, but the coldest possible places here are about zone 7, so cant comment on your z5. The leaf margins are extremely sharp when rubbed in towards the plant, I got a few nasty cuts as a child. I wouldn't let my children play around any (ages 1,3,5). The other problemw with this plant are that it spreads about as wide as it is high, unless eaten by animals or controlled mechnaically. It also produces a lot of dead material, harbouring rodents and creating a fire risk.
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Hiring someone is out so it looks like we may be digging it up ourselves. I thought about chopping it low, then either trying to dig it by hand or round up it to death. Problem is I do have plants nearby I don't want any chance of being poisoned and I'd like to use the space for replanting so I've been hesitant on the round up. Do you have any idea how deep the roots might be? We just removed some stumps from three rose of sharons I chopped and round upped to death but we had access from the road so we hooked on to the stumps with my truck but this clump of grass is in the back so not so much access to it to pull it up.
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wantonamara Z8 CenTex
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Mine was 8'x8'. A lot of grass to mulch.
memetexas
4 years ago
Did you get rid of it?
memetexas
4 years ago
There's a comment box for me Rosalee. I wonder why you don't see one??
blakrab Centex
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Of course, an invasive grass with razor blades...is naturally chosen as one of the standard offerings by the landscaping industry...
wantonamara Z8 CenTex
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
The white blooming ones do have beautiful blooms. The "Pink" one that I had had a boring bloom and it would bloom right before the big September rain which it did not stand up to well through it. It was a bedraggled dog of a bloom afterwards. I think the smaller in stature white blooming one was much better in this regard.

An interesting historical note that I read about years ago: Explorers hit this large Valley full of tall grass (pampus grass relative called Toetoe in New Zealand) and it ripped the whole party of explorers as they rode through the miles and miles of thick grass. The horses were very unhappy with being ripped to peices.

I hear that Pampus grass is a huge problem with invasiveness on the West Coast but I have only seen one obvious volunteer clump of it around Austin. It is one plant I would not want to see a whole field of.
roselee z8b S.W. Texas
4 years ago
Margeetex, I logged on with Firefox and as you can see there is a comment box where there wasn't one with AOL. (?)

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