Why I Oughta...

This is just over the one-year mark for a trio of grasses that I planted in our backyard late last growing season .  They've been in the ground for 13 months now and are showing their annual seed heads.  These three Miscanthus sinensis 'Adagio' Maiden Grasses are tucked in behind the All Gold Japanese Forest Grasses and in front of the Little Lime Hydrangeas .   Have a look at the photo below to see the three grasses and their first-growing-season seed heads. This being the first full growing season, I'm thinking that these put down roots this year and will begin to fill-in next year with more foliage.  I put these in this spot to help create a bit of a 'layering' affect with the layers of grasses, shrubs and the Apple tree Belgian Fence in the far back.  Like I do with all of my ornamental grasses, I'll leave these Adagio Maiden Grasses up all Winter - for 'winter interest' and will chop them down early in the Spring/late Winter for the new years...

This Spring, the backyard bed (under the tree swing) is showing eight All Gold Japanese Forest Grasses that have emerged from the mulch.  These are notorious slow-starters (for me), so I'm happy to see that all eight (from last Fall) have come back.  Here's last year's Fall look .   That's down one from Spring when I had nine in this bed.    You can see this area in the photo below with the grasses near the border of the curve in the bed: There's a lot going on in that photo.  Tulips glowing up in the background and more.  So....Below is an annotated version of the same photo showing the eight All Gold Japanese Forest Grasses.  In the back (in the blue circles) are three Miscanthus sinesis 'Adagio' that I planted last Fall .  In the orange circle is the lone  Green Mountain Boxwood from 2021  that is a pyramidal form.  For some of these, this will be the third growing season, while for others this will be the second - whi...

In the flurry of late-season planting in the backyard, I managed to sneak in a trio of dwarf ornamental grasses - Miscanthus sinesis 'Adagio ' - in an area underneath the tree swing Northern Red Oak.  They're tucked in behind a colony of Japanese Forest Grasses and in front of the Belgian Fence Apple tree espalier.  One of the noteworthy characteristics of this cultivar is that the flower panicles grow up and out into these gently curving/arching feather heads that provide a lot of Winter interest.  This is the first season we've had these and I'm happy to see the initial view we're getting after these being in the ground for just a short period of time this year.  See below for a look at the feathers at the top: I can already imagine what these will look like in the coming years as they fill in and thicken-up.  I've historically left ALL of my grasses in place over winter and these seem to be no different.  If you're looking for an inexpensive, zone 5...