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Tiger Grass
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Posted by vancleaveterry MS coast (My Page) on Mon, Jan 7, 08 at 19:35
| Hello... Anyone have any experience with Tiger grass, Thysanolaena maxima ?
I bought two small clumps last week on ebay from "wellspring100" as an impulse buy. The plants arrived today and are healthy.
How fast will it grow?
Zone 8/9
Terry |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Tiger Grass
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- Posted by bahia SF Bay Area (My Page) on
Tue, Jan 22, 08 at 12:35
| I've grown this for years here in California, but have no experience with growing it where it freezes. Here, it is evergreen in winter, unless it drops below freezing, in which case it can be killed to the ground. It is not super fast growing under our cool summer maritime climate, but could be expected to grow much faster with Mississippi summer weather. I am not sure how cold hardy the roots are, and how well this does in colder winter climates where it would regularly freeze each winter. It comes from tropical India, and can easily get 10 feet tall under our California conditions. It also likes regular water in summer, and refuses to grow much at all if subjected to drought all summer. |
RE: Tiger Grass
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| Thanks Bahia. We get a freeze once or twice a year here...sometimes no freezes,... I think. I think because until this year, I've lived 20 miles further south (for the last 20 years) where it only freezes once every seven or so years. My old home was a few hundred yards from the beach, and the first few miles are kept warm by the gulf micro-climate. Does it spread or is it a clumper? (I need cover for the pheasants I want to release.) By the way, last year I saw a clivia growing in the ground at Alcatraz in your neck of the woods. We keep them in pots here. |
RE: Tiger Grass
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- Posted by bahia SF Bay Area (My Page) on
Fri, Jan 25, 08 at 1:39
| Definitely a clumper, but it can eventually form quite a big clump. It sounds like it will probably do quite well for you if you rarely freeze, as it has no problems with temps down to just above freezing, but the mature foliage will definitely look a bit tattered and stressed after weeks of cold weather. If it can be sheltered from cold winds in winter, it will look better, as it only grows new foliage from the basal new shoots, or from the tips of the existing culms, and can look pretty shabby if drought or cold stressed. It might look best if cut back to the ground at the beginning of the growing season in your conditions, because I bet it will take off like a race horse with your hot, humid and rainy summers. Here in northern California near the coast, it is just slow and steady, and can take a couple of years to reach full size. Clivia are almost like weeds here locally, and are already blooming in my garden. As long as they get some summer water and don't freeze, they require very little attention here. |
RE: Tiger Grass
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| Thank you Bahia... I will probably have to cut it down after each winter as you suggested. |
RE: Tiger Grass
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| My two small little potted tiger grass plants made it through the winter... barely. One is just slightly green. I think they'll both recover though. |
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