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Showing posts with the label dividing grasses

Fall Dividing All Gold Hakonechloa Forest Grasses - November 2023

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The star of our garden are the All Gold Hakonechloa Japanese Forest Grasses .  I have two colonies of them - one in front and one in back.  I have a dozen places where I could use more, but they are always very expensive and rarely go on sale.  So...I thought they might be a good candidate for Fall Division.   I selected one to test this Fall - in the front IB2DWs bed.  And only chose one because I haven't divided these before.  They've been really hard to get established, so I didn't want to put too many of them at risk.  But...if this works this year, I'll divide a few in the Spring and then even more come Fall 2024. Here's the before - I was targeting the largest one in the back. And, here's the after -below.  My process for this was to first tie-up the grass blades, so I could get a good shot at digging out the clump.  Below is the grass all tied-up. I opted to divide it FIRST into half.  Then, I took one of the halves and divided that again.  Leaving me wit

Dividing Eliajah Blue Fescue in Fall - October 2023

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Earlier this month, I identified the Elijah Blue Fescue ornamental grasses that are planted in the IB2DWs bed were ready to divide.  One of them was suffering from 'center rot', while the other ones were just not performing.  Were they suriving?  Yeah...but not doing what I wanted them to do.  So, I've opted to include them in my annual 'Fall Dividing' program.   I started the  process with three Elijiah Blue Fescue clumps that I planted in April of 2022 .   I took the one with center rot and pulled it out: And, I pulled out the other two and divided them.   Here, below, is a look at the 'best' one of the bunch with a nice root ball: I used my Hori Hori to divide the clumps.  Like the Everillo sedges that I divided recently, it wasn't as easy as dividing grasses.  The root system is different and not-as-easily 'splitable'.   See below for a Elijah Blue Fescue grass divided in the Fall: I started with three and now I have six small Blue Fescue clu

Totem Pole Ornamental Grass Update - September 2023

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In the Spring of 2021 (two growing seasons ago), I bought a singular (broke the rule of buying multiples), large-scale ornamental grass named Prairie Winds Totem Pole - Panicum virgatum .  Planted it on the edge of the front porch bed as a vertical accent.   What caught my attention at the Morton Sale?  The height of this grass being listed as 72" tall - 6 feet tall .    It came back in May of 2022 - and is a late starter every season.  A year after planting, the grass was still small , but by the end of the growing season, it was probably four-feet-tall or so.  And had some nice Winter Interest .   But, that front porch bed has changed quite a bit in the last year - the Norway Maple is gone.  Replaced by a smaller Triumph Elm.   That has opened up this bed to more light and reduced root competition.   And the results on this ornamental grass?  The tallest it has ever been - and close to the promised 6-foot-height when you count the seed heads.  See below for current view of thi

Elijah Blue Fescue Grasses - Ready To Divide - September 2023

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A couple of years ago, I planted some Elijah Blue Fescue grasses in the IB2DWs bed along with some other blue-colored plants like Cat's Pajamas Nepeta .   Those grasses have never thrived, but they seemed to have survived over the years - despite that being what I'd consider a 'hard-to-grow' area.  Between the poor soil, the adjacency to the driveway and the lack of irrigation, it isn't a great growing bed.  But, like I said...these seemingly have survived.   But, like all grasses, it appears that Elijah Blue Fescue grasses suffer from center rot.  And need to be divided every few years.  How can I tell?  Have a look at one of the crowns of the blue fescue grass below - with three distinct tufts of blades emerging from the edges: Here, below, is a look at another one of them where you can see the center of the grass is brown'ing out and showing no growth: Everything that I've read on the Web tells me that these need regular dividing and that I need to dig

Dividing Feather Reed Grasses - IB2DWs - October 2022

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Over the past few weeks, I've posted a couple of times about how I went about digging up, dividing and transplanting various mature perennials like hostas, ferns and even alliums .  At last count, I had created 32 new, 'free' plants this Fall through divisions .  #12 on my 2022 to-do list was to focus on adding plants through division .  I'd say that 32 count as completing the task.  But, there's another item on that same to-do list that I wanted to cover:  #4.  Enhance the In Between Two Driveways Strip .  The intersection of plant division and IB2DWs is how I went about trying to check both boxes.  Over the past few seasons, I've focused my Fall dividing on the various Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses around the front and backyard.  A few larger ones suffered from 'center rot' and NEEDED dividing, while others were just simply large enough to divide into new plants.   That's the plant - Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grass - that I divided and plante

Peak Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses - June 2022

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I know that Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses are very (as they say) basic.  You'll find them in plenty of landscapes around Northern Illinois.  But that's for good reason:  they are really strong performers.  Across multiple seasons.  They stay upright and proud to provide winter interest, but they also put on a show as they grow in early Summer.  In fact...I'd say that right now (mid-June) really *is* PEAK Karl Foerster grass season.  They've grown up for the season and have put out their flowers on the tips that are light green.  But, the blades of the grass - in particular their color - are the real stars of the show.   Here's a few looks at various Karl Foerster grasses around the yard right now below.  First, some of the grasses planted right off our patio.  These were planted last Fall and were divisions. Next up are the three that are in the mulch island between our front walk and our driveway.  These, too, were divided last year ( and this Spring ). Here,

Front Yard Ornamental Grasses Divided and Transplanted - May 2022

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I've posted a series of times about the Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses that we have in our landscape and how I've been digging them up, dividing them and transplanting them to various spots of our beds to provide that notion of a cohesive design with repeating patterns of specific plants.  I started doing this last Fall and then did even more this Spring after realizing that the ones I divided last Fall were just fine.   Last week, I showed how I made eight new divisions in the backyard and planted them in various places in the backyard.  The final Karl Foerster grass that I needed to dig up and divide was this large one in between our driveway and front walk stoop.  It was left there as a hedge - but is suffering from some center rot.  It needed to be divided.  See below for the 'before'.  The two further back were divisions from last Fall and are showing some new green tips this Spring: After digging that one out and dividing it up, I put one of the segments back

Karl Foerster Grasses - Divided - April 2022

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Last week, I posted some photos and details of the Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses that I divided last Fall and transplanted around the yard with (so far...) success.  At that time, I mentioned that I had a few more grasses that I left in place as a sort-of hedge against the division killing all of the grasses.  This past weekend, I got around to digging up the remaining grasses and dividing them into new clumps ready for transplant.  Starting with the little bed outside our kitchen window, we had (as of this Spring) three large clumps.  Now, we're back to five smaller grasses - three in the back, two in the front.  See that below: The other grass that was ready to divide was one outside our screened porch.  I dug it up and divided it and put one of the divisions back in place - you can see it below.  The newly divided grass is on the right along with three other grasses that were planted in subsequent years.  Now there are four grasses in this little bed.  I'm thinking tha

Ornamental Grasses Divided in Fall Update - April 2022

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Last Fall, I went around and started to divide up a bunch of Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses that were either suffering from some 'center rot' or simply just large enough clumps to warrant division.  There were two sets: one in between our driveway and front stoop that had three and another set out of our kitchen window that had five. As I look around the yard today, I have good news:  All of the divisions were successful and the grasses have come back for Spring.  For now.  First, let's start with the kitchen window grasses.  I hedged a little bit and decided to dig up and divide just TWO of the five.  I left the back three in place.  Below, you can see those three remaining and in front of them a couple of divots where the other two came out. Where did I put them?  I divided both of them into three new grass clumps.  I put the first three on the corner of our patio - you can see below.  These three are happy and green. The other one that was divided up into thirds was

Wandering Around The Beds - Early April 2022

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There are signs of life emerging EVERYWHERE around our garden.  Here's a few photos of things that are bringing me a little bit of Spring joy in beds around our garden.  First, the IB2DW bed - which has (now) five Pinball Wizard Allium bulbs that were planted last year .  Below, you can see the red-ish tips of the foliage emerging from the mulch.   On the south side of the house is an Iris that my Sister Vic gave to me from her Indiana Street (Elmhurst) neighbor.  I call this "Wes' Iris" .  It is coming alive as I type: Under the troubled (in Decline) Norway Maple out front are some *new* (to me) tulips that have arrived for the first time (below).  I planted these last year .  They're DIFFERENT in that the foliage is variegated and has a pink(ish) stripe down the edge.  And, here below, are a BUNCH more tulips that I planted down near the sidewalk in that troublesome spot.  Should note (to myself) where these are and how to augment them this Fall. Below is a peek