Ornamental Grass Care

Wiese Acres Miscanthus purpurascens

I love ornamental grasses - they sway gracefully in the summer breezes, provide structure in the garden, and offer landscape interest no matter what the North Dakota winter brings. 

I leave the dead foliage on the perennial gardens, except for iris and peonies, because the foliage protects the crown from the freeze and thaw cycles of a North Dakota winter.  It catches snow to provide a warm blanket for the plants through the winter and moisture in the spring.   Iris and peony foliage gets taken off after a killing frost, bagged and destroyed because of their propensity to harbor bacterial and fungal diseases. 

Most of the dead foliage looks... well... dead.  The ornamental grasses, on the other hand, work as hard to provide a lovely backdrop in the winter garden as they do in the summer.  The pheasants and the wild turkeys, as well as a few blue jays, love the seeds that hang on through much of the winter, too.  Now it's time to say good-bye to last year's grasses and make way for the new spring growth. 

The best time to cut back the old foliage is early spring before any new growth begins, so as soon as the mud dries a bit, I'll be out there with my hedge trimmer.  A good, sharp scissors also works, but some of the clumps become quite large after a few years.  I've learned to wear a good heavy pair of garden gloves when I work with the grasses.  The edges of the blades of grass are quite sharp and feel a lot like a paper cut if you happen to catch the edge just right. 

Wiese Acres Calamagrostis "Karl Foerrester"

I tape the clumps together with a few strips of compostable paper masking tape, about one-third of the way from the top of the blades and then again about two-thirds of the way from the top.  That way, the blades aren't flopping onto my head while I'm down at the base with my hedge shears and I can take the clumps away to the compost bin without losing half of them along the way. 

Trim the grass to about two inches from the ground.  If you aren't able to get to the trimming before the new growth starts, you can trim a little higher to protect the tips of the new growth, if necessary.  The new foliage will grow in thick enough to cover a few inches of old stem.

Carry the old foliage to the compost pile or the garbage can and you're ready to enjoy another season of beautiful grasses.