First, i really apologise ~ the last few entries in this blog seem to have been complaints and/or rants, and oops, here's another one! Don't get me wrong...this is Spring, and for the most part, it is definitely the happiest time of the year for me! We've even had cold temps and way too much rain, but the flowers are coming up, the trees are blossoming, and the grass is that "brand new" shade of green, so it's still awesome.
BUT, let me say right now, i will NEVER plant another large ornamental grass on my property FOREVER!
They are pretty from midsummer to late Fall, but then they're nothing but problems. i see a lot of landscapes incorporating grasses, and even though they are not tended to, they grow tall and straight through rain, sun or wind, but mine always have to be tied or staked or trimmed or SOMETHING. i do know that if they are fertilized they can become soft and floppy ~ they like "poor" soil ~ so i never fertilize them, and they still flop all over.
THEN it is always mentioned to leave them as is over the cold season for "Winter Interest". AND for awhile they do add to the landscape ~ that is, until the first ice or freezing rainstorm that we get! Of course, i live in a smaller lot in Middle Suburbia ~ if the grasses were out in the back 40 it wouldn't be so bad. But here i am outside in the cold beating the poor things with a shovel to break the ice off them so they don't fall into the driveway. They can only take so many ice or snow storms, then they're down for the count and look sloppy till the weather gets nice enough to cut them back.
But wait, there's more!
We don't get "nice enough" weather until at least April, so the dead straw colored grass is breaking apart in our very windy Spring weather and is scattered all over the yard, in the pond, and in all the flower beds. i have dug out a few of my grasses, but after just a few years, they develop a rock hard root mass the size of Maine! Then after all that work cutting them down, there's a problem with what to do with all the huge piles of dead grass! Hey, i'm all for the ecology ~ the perfect answer would be to chop it up and compost it, and i would tell you to do that, but it's a huge mess, and most grasses have tiny hairs that act like cactus thorns ~ you know, the ones that are too tiny to find in your finger (or hand, or back, or feet!) but are large enough to drive you crazy until they work their way out (and/or become infected)!
So, basically, for smaller yards, i recommend you save the stress and do without unless you have lots of time on your hands!
