Ornamental Grass Maintainance

[Garden Manager]

OK lets try again (forum lost my first attempt at this post).

I need some help on maintaining certain types of ornamentel grasses. I havent been growing them that long so havent fully worked out how to get the best out of them yet.

I know that there are deciduous types that are cut back hard in spring (like miscanthus), and there are those that are fully evergreen and only require light tidying to remove dead leaves (like carex and festuca). But i grow two types of stipa which in my veiw are only semi evergreen (Stipa tenuissima and Stipa arundinacea.

Now care of these two grasses differs depending on who you listen to or read. Some say tidy like the evergreens, others say cut back like deciduous in spring. This has left me confused. i like these grasses a lot nd grew the ones I have in the garden from seed, so I dont want to do the wrong thing and kill them off!

Can anyone advise me as to what to do and when. Thanks

[Garden Manager]

[Palustris]

Well, I ain't managed to kill off any of ours through pruning them wrongly yet. One or two have died from cold though. I do not touch any of ours until spring (too many other joobs more desperate!). Then every other year, the evergreen and semi evergreen ones are cut to the ground like the deciduous ones.

[saddad]

Flamethrower? I'm not an ornamental grass fan... my wife is and they seed everywhere!
:-X

[Garden Manager]

Sorry to bump up and old thread but I though it was an appropriate thread to use for my query.

It regards moving ornamental grasses, particularly those classed as 'warm season' grasses such as stipas.

I know full well that spring is the best time to move them but I think I may need to move a few of my stipa arundinacea and tenuissimas before then. I was wondering if it was worth risking a move in late summer/early autumn. Would this give them enough time to get reestablished before winter? Is it too much of a risk? would it be better done earlier (say in august), even if they need watering though any proper summer weather we might have this year?

Any suggestions/advice on this please?

[ACE]

I would have thought that moving them with the biggest rootball and plenty of soil would not hurt them. We use them in lots of arrangements throughout the summer, transferring them from pots with no ill effects. I would not be tempted to split them this time, unless you pot them and give them a bit of undercover time.

[Garden Manager]

I would have thought that moving them with the biggest rootball and plenty of soil would not hurt them. We use them in lots of arrangements throughout the summer, transferring them from pots with no ill effects. I would not be tempted to split them this time, unless you pot them and give them a bit of undercover time.

Thanks. No I wasnt planning to divide them on this occasion. Had my fingers burnt when I did it at the RIGHT time! I am usualy carefull when i move plants i am wary of moving, to get a decent sized rootball when digging them up. I have planted ornamental grasses in pots in autumn before with no ill effects even when followed by a wet winter. Soil grown plants with a decent rootball cant be much different.

[Garden Manager]

Been thinking. I suppose it wouldnt hurt lifting them and potting them up to replant later. At least then they would have a chance to recover any root damage before the autumn/winter. worth a try anyway

Will probably try both methods actualy.