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Taking care of container grasses

MeomyeMeomye Posts: 949
in Problem solving

This year I have been tempted by several lovely looking grasses which I have in pots. They have started looking a bit messy (brown whispy bits on the end). Should I tidy them up by cutting the ends off? or do I cut right them back for winter? Will they return to their former glory next year?

Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    Which varieties are they? 

    I don't really do anything to mine, but the deciduous ones get the old foliage removed in late winter/early spring once the new growth starts to come through. Evergreen ones just get any dead foliage removed in spring to rejuvenate them. I occasionally prune those right back if I divide them or want to move them.

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • KeenOnGreenKeenOnGreen Posts: 1,831

    Depends on which grasses they are.  For example, I have Stipa Gigantea in pots.  You don't cut them back, but just pull out any older, dead foliage, same with Festuca Glauca for example.  Miscanthus I do  cut back in early Spring.  Which grasses are they?

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    Snap KOG image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147

    Are the brown wispy bits on the end the seedheads ... they look amazing when the low winter sun shines through them, and even better if we get some frosts and they're covered with glistening ice crystals ... I'd leave them be until the spring image

    Last edited: 04 November 2017 08:51:17


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • MeomyeMeomye Posts: 949

    Hi everyone, thanks for replies, sorry for being so vague but try as I might to keep hold of tags I can't always locate them. I have managed to identify one of them as Imperta Cylindrica Red Baron. This is a beautiful specimen with red and green foliage. The brown bits definatly look like they have died off , not seed heads.

  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039

    Leave the Imperata and cut back the dead leaves in early Spring, just before new growth starts.

    The dead leaves provide protection for the crown.

    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
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