Cut them now, or wait?

I just got 7 Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster' from Bluestone. They have lovely root systems, but ratty 8" foliage. I've potted them up to 1.5 gallon pots, and am considering giving them a trim now. I'm thinking since they're cool season growers, they should put up some fresh foliage before winter shuts them down.

What do you think?

donn - right on, cut off the brown stuff, you'll have little green tufts in no time. I did the same to one of mine that was suffering from lack of water. I will move it to a moister, partly sunny spot in springtime. More to its liking, I hope.

What happened to all the interest in this forum?

PG..I whacked them all off at 2-3" and they're already sending up new growth.

It is a slow forum, isn't it? I guess everyone's out admiring their plumes.

yes, that must be the case! What other grasses do you grow?

Here's my full list of successfully winter sown grasses:

Anthoxanthum odoratum.. Sweet Vernal Grass
Briza maxima.. Annual Quaking Grass
Briza media.. Quaking Grass
Calamagrostis brachytricha..Fall Blooming Feather Reed Grass
Carex comans 'Bronze Form'..Bronze New Zealand Hair Sedge
Carex grayi.. Gray's Sedge
Carex muskingumensis.. Palm Sedge
Chasmanthium latifolium.. Northern Sea Oats
Cortaderia selloana.. Pampas Grass
Deschampsia caespitosa.. Tufted Hairgrass
Eragrostis spectabilis.. Purple Love Grass
Festuca gigantea.. Giant Fescue
Festuca glauca.. Blue Fescue
Festuca mairei.. Maire's Fescue
Festuca scoparia.. syn. Festuca gautieri..Bearskin Fescue
Helictotrichon sempervirens..Blue Oat Grass
Hystrix patula.. Bottlebrush Grass
Lagurus ovatus.. Bunny Tails - Annual
Luzula nivea.. Snowy Woodrush
Luzula sylvatica.. Greater Woodrush
Miscanthus sinensis 'Central Park'..Maiden Grass
Miscanthus sinensis.. 'New Hybrids'..Maiden Grass, Eulalia Grass
Nassella tenuissima.. Mexican Feather Grass
Panicum virgatum.. Switch Grass
Panicum virgatum 'Strictum'..Switch Grass
Pennisetum glaucum 'Purple Majesty'..Ornamental Millet..Annual
Pennisetum alopecuroides.. Fountain Grass
Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Moudry'.. Black Seeded Fountain Grass
Pennisetum orientale..Oriental Fountain Grass
Saccharum ravennae..Ravenna Grass
Sesleria caerulea.. Blue Moor Grass
Setaria faberi.. Giant Foxtail - Annual
Sporobolus heterolepis..Prairie Dropseed
Stipa capillata.. Feather Grass
Tridens flavus.. Purple Top

Grasses from trade divisions, plugs and 3" pot purchases:

Acorus gramineus 'Aureopusillus Minimus'
Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Avalanche'
Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster'
Carex morrowii 'Ice Dance'
Imperata cylindrica 'Red Baron'
Miscanthus sinensis 'Gracillimus'
Miscanthus sinensis 'Gold Bar'
Miscanthus sinensis 'Malepartus'
Muhlenbergia capillaris
Panicum virgatum 'Shenandoah'
Panicum virgatum 'Heavy Metal'
Pennisetum orientale 'Karley Rose'

That's quite a list! I've only got a fraction of those. Tell me more about winter sowing, do you mean you grew them from seed?

I found a cute little "grass" growing on campus, and then my prof told me it was a sedge, but I can't identify it. Maybe if I took pictures you could help with that? I don't really know what you would need specifically to look out, so please enlighten me.

I'm also trying to identify a pennisetum that is growing in a gas station island near here. It is breath-taking. It's not Moudry or Hameln, it could be P. incomptum or P. macrourum, I'll have to get a pic. Maybe I'm way off, and it's a more common one. ie easier to find! I have Darke's encyclopedia and it looks like one of those.

I want to try Sesleria autumnalis and Sporobolus heterolepis. Oh, and Purple Majesty millet! And my family seems to think I'm hard to buy for, go figure. Cheers. :0)

PG..yes, the winter sown grasses were grown from seed. Winter Sowing is the use of recyclable containers like milk jugs, as mini-greenhouses. You load them with potting mix, sow your seeds, and stick them outside for the winter.

Pics of the Sedge flowering would be helpful, but there are 2-3,000 different Carex species, and many of them are common reseeders all over the country(world). I have 2-3 different ones growing in my garden as volunteers, and haven't been able to ID them yet.

The Pennisetum should be easier to ID. A pic in flower, and a measurement of leaf width should do it.

thanks! I'll post a pic of the pennisetum today or tomorrow.

The carex will have to wait until next week. I realize it's a shot in the dark LOL.

Have to get my son off to Kindergarten. Back later to look up winter sowing. :0)

sorry donn this took so long, and my pics stink, see if you can figure it out. If not, I'll try to go back and get a better shot.

Here is a closeup of leaf width. Sorry no measurement.

Just for kicks, here's one of the infloresence.

PG..It doesn't look like any Carex I've seen, or any in my books.

It looks more like a Pennisetum. Maybe P. incomptum or P. macrourum.

That's what I was thinking (see post dated Sept. 28 6:56 am). No idea which one? I guess if I can find one or the other, it doesn't matter much LOL. Thanks.

Isn't it pretty? :0)

Darke says incomptum is hardy to zone 4 and macrourum to zone 6. Maybe that helps in ID'ing it. I've never seen either in real life, nor on the availability lists of growers and wholesalers I've been looking at.

PG..why don't you see if you can get the school's grounds crew to let you have some seeds from that Pennisetum, or better yet, some rhizomes? I'd be tickled to trade for some. I'd love to have some P. incomptum to grow in containers and in my Pennisetum Boat.

I did some searching, and only found one potential domestic source for them. That's John Greenlee's Nursery in California, and his online list is dated June '04. He listed 2 and 3 gallon plants, which would cost an arm and a leg to ship.

B&T World Seeds lists seeds for both, at 27 Euros for a gram, plus shipping.

donn~Sorry for the confusion, I guess I wasn't particularly clear. The pennisetum is growing locally here in a gas station island. It was the carex that was growing on school grounds, but I'm sure I don't have enough moisture for a carex. So forget about that one. I will have to investigate the local source of the pennisetum. We are very close to Chicago, so I could probably get it. Since we're in zone 5, my guess is incomptum too. Maybe it was mis-labeled! Ahh, a mystery...

Well, let me know what you discover. I've put out some feelers on both of them. I'll bet we can come up with some, at reasonable prices.

Yes, and since Darke says it "spreads too aggressively to be manageable in a mixed flower border" your boat is probably the right place for it! I'm trying to place a shorter grass with a mounding habit in place of this Karl Foerster.

edited to add: The coreopsis failed, in their place I planted more purple salvia. Still looking for more Purple Emperor sedum to plant in place of the red pentas. Everything is filling in nicely, KF is just too vertical next to the lamp-post.

This message was edited Oct 16, 2006 7:03 PM

I have Hameln on the other side of the steps. I was thinking that another Pennisetum would be nice. But I didn't want them to be identical.

This message was edited Oct 16, 2006 7:20 PM

Donn
that is an impressive list of grasses you have started
where in the world does a person purchase that many different kind of seed ?

thanks
Dick

Dick,

Some of the seeds came from trading, and a few came from Park's, but the vast majority were from Jelitto, in Germany. They currently list 170 different varieties of ornamental grass seed, and they ship US orders from Louiseville, KY. Be sure to request their catalog, too. It's a work of art.

https://www.jelitto.com/haupt_en.html

Gosh Donn, I would love to see pictures of your yard with all those grasses. The colors ad textures must be so much fun. You must have a huge yard to accommodate all of those.

PrairieGirlZ5, your frontyard is looking great.

Donn
thanks for the link
it is very impressive with too much stuff :-) will take a cpl days to go thru
i had 17 different specie of grass growing in So.Calif. & i thought that was a lot :-)
like Kell says please show picts of your yard with these grasses

Dick

The vast majority of the grasses are either in nursery beds or nursery pots, waiting to reach mature size before they get installed into the gardens.

I have a few photos.

This is a 20' x 4' bed with 10 Eragrostis spectabilis in front of 8 Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Moudry'

Here's a more recent shot of the same bed, with the 'Moudry' blooming:

Here's a 12' fiberglass boat on my boardwalk. It's stuffed with Pennisetum oriental, and some Tridens flavus in the bow. The tall stuff in back is Salix alba 'Britzensis'

Here's some Lagurus ovatus, in front of Miscanthus sinensis 'New Hybrids' in front of 3 different varieties of Hisbiscus moscheutos:

Here's a nicely blooming Miscanthus sinensis 'New Hybrids' on a sunny windy morning in August:

Some Pennisetum orientale 'Karley Rose' in front of the Hibiscus patch. Just visible on the left is a new clump of Calamagrostis brachytricha:

Here's a 'Karley Rose' fronted by 3 new clumps of Carex comans 'Bronze Form'

This is what it usually looks like around here. A couple of installed 3-year old M.s. 'New Hybrids' surrounded by dozens of potted grasses, including
M.s. 'Gracillimus'
M.s. 'Gold Bar'
Sacharrum ravennae
Lagurus ovatus
P.v. 'Shenandoah'

This message was edited Nov 11, 2006 5:54 PM

Here are 16 new clumps of Nassella tenuissima, in trade gallon pots and sitting in an open coldframe on my boardwalk:

New clumps of Helictotrichon sempervirens

Had enough?

Looking so good. Great pictures. Your boat is too cute. And it looks like you are right on the water. Lucky duck. THANKS so much.

You posted 3 more pictures while I was typing out mine. I am so slow. I say never enough. I love to see what you have there.

I love seeing the combinations you've come up with. The Hibiscus is a really pretty background plant for Karley Rose.

And thanks Kell for your compliment of my front yard, still futzing with it.

Donn-do you sell or just trade?

Kell..I live on a canal, a couple of hundred yards off the Great South Bay, on the south shore of Long Island. My other hobbies are fishing and restoring wooden boats, so being on the water is helpful. That's why I'm concentrating on ornamental grasses. They're about the perfect plant for maritime climates.

PG..just trading so far, but I'm in the process of setting up a website to sell grasses.

It's a great specialty! Best wishes for much success.