Perennials: What are your THREE most favorite Perennials?, 2 by DonnaMack

DonnaMack wrote:
Hey, you wish!

They just want to sell it to you. There isn't a nice person at the nursery whose owner pays their bills who says, oh, no, don't buy that $24.00 grass. If they have it, they want to sell it. Landscapers are the worst. They get deals on certain plants and sell them to every client. I once saw a program with a very expensive landscaper who showed the viewers (I being one of them) five of her client gardens. The same ten or so plants were in every garden - right down to cultivar. That's why in the 1990's silberfeder was THE miscanthus. Everyone I knew who used a landscaper had at least one. I acquired one on my own about five years after everyone else - just as theirs began to flop.

I have a suggestion. Pop into the library and find a book on ornamental grasses. Take it with you. Make sure it mentions width - a lot of them exaggerate a bit, which is good. I have read from numerous sources that gracillimus gets 3-4 feet wide. Not mine. I measured my eight clumps. 30 inches. The other thing is that height usually does not include plumes. Watch out for grasses that "may require staking". You will often see this reference with Zebrinus. Scott of Old House Gardens once wrote that his looked like a big shaggy dog. How the heck do you stake a grass without it being visible?

Some grasses are known for seeding. My chinese fountain grass (the original really big one) started seeding into the lawn after a few years, but since it did so in hard little clumps I could pull it out. Did anyone tell me about that tendency? No. Would I have bought so many. Yep - it was worth the trouble.

The same with chasmanthium latifolium - northern sea oats. Seeds like crazy in my new yard. I must have 50 plantlets. Oddly, I brought it from my former home, where it did not seed at all. The difference seems to be moisture.

The right books will tell you this. But the other tip is to avoid heavy fertilization. I bought a billion grasses from Milaegers in Racine in fall (buy 12, get 6 free, by 6, get 3 free, buy 3, get one free and you've got to know I made many trips and did all the combos). The owner, the wonderful Kevin Milaeger, gave me two tips.

DO cut them back, or light can't get to the base and they die out in the middle.Then you have to divide them (with a pickax!)

Do fertilize them ONCE in spring with some 10-10-10, but otherwise don't, or the growth will be soft and far more prone to flopping.

By the way, here is a good example of Gracillimus staying in its place. I put this grouping in and had it for ten years. The grass went in about July of 1998. I put the plants in a few years later. I would guess I put them about 18 inches to two feet away from the base of the grass, since it flairs outward. I didn't really know what I was doing at the time (Morden Blush and strictus, anyone?)

One more thing. Some grasses slice plants. Morning Light definitely does. I had to stake my lilies away from it. It would literally slice them. But Gracillimus didn't. Or Strictus. Or adagio. I realize this in retrospect, mind you. You can see that it doesn't, and the effect of the grasses blending with some of the perennials was really gorgeous. Pictures 3 and 4 were taken four years after picture 1.

Thank you for asking these questions. It makes me think it through, and that's really helpful, since I am lucky enough to have two wonderful clients, and they have a lot of questions and it's so much better if I don't stand there and go - duh!