Now’s the Time to Trim Your Ornamental Grasses

March

Ask the master gardeners

Q: Looking around my neighborhood I have noticed that some gardeners cut down their ornamental grasses in late fall. I have always cut my grasses back in the spring. Am I doing something wrong?

A: You are doing nothing wrong at all. By keeping your grasses all winter you are able to enjoy a beautiful distraction in the normally bleak winter months. There are so many grasses from which to choose — small and compact, tall and free flowing, with colors ranging from yellow to red, green, blue and everything in between.

One of my favorite dwarf grasses is Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Little Bunny’ (dwarf fountain grass). Another, Festuca glauca ‘Elijah Blue” (blue fescue) has powder blue leaves that hold their color all year.

Ornamental grasses are wonderful additions to the landscape as they are generally very hardy, low maintenance and deer resistant.

After they provide your garden with winter interest, give them a good shearing to about 3 to 6 inches in early spring before they begin their new growth. You will soon be rewarded with new vigorous growth.
— Bonnie Ossman, Nyack master gardener, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rockland

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 6:57 am by Bill Cary.
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