Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
chestnutpatrick

Grasses for 2008

chestnutpatrick
16 years ago

Things have been pretty quiet here lately....

Which grasses are you planning on growing from seed in 2008 and where did you acquire the seed

Sound off.

I am growing muhly grass 2 varieties, deschampia, miscanthus, fescuta 4 varieties, pennisetum bought and snatched seed, stipa, carex, and sea oats.

Bought a lot of seed from Jelitto and have big plans to pot up and eventually plant out several hundred pots in the early fall. We are dealing with a blank slate in our yard. I have a lot of work this summer.

Also I bought several flats of grass liners (miscanthus and karl forester) that will arrive mid april.

What are your plans?

Comments (4)

  • cheyjohn_z5
    16 years ago

    I am getting the gardening bug big time and decided to look around GW. I saw your post and it made to curious because I thought most if not all grasses had to be bought as plants because the seeds are either near sterile or don't grow true. I have also never heard of the grass liners you wrote about. Can you tell me more about those? Thanks!

    Chey

  • chestnutpatrick
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Growers sell grasses as plugs (small seedlings or divisions) for nurseries. I bought my plugs/liners from perennialmarket.com in Ambler, PA. PM was recommended in threads here at the GW.

    PC

  • terrene
    16 years ago

    I love to garden for wildlife (birds, pollinators, toads, insects, etc.), and so naturally became interested in native wildflowers and grasses. I started winter-sowing this year for the first time so I could start lots of species from seed (cheaper and fun). I'll be planting them in the gardens, woodland, and in a small meadow area in the back of my lot.

    Late March/early April I'll winter-sow the following grasses:

    Androgopon gerardii - Big bluestem
    Bouteloua curtipendula - Side oats Grama
    Chasmanthium latifolium - Northern sea oats
    Lagurus ovatus - Bunny tails
    Schizochyrium scoparium - Little bluestem
    Sorghastrum nutans - Indian grass

    Anybody have any tips on winter-sowing grasses? I have searched through past posts and been hoping that Donn would show up. I was planning to sow plugs of grasses in soda bottles, using a little hunk of seeds in each.

  • gonativegal
    16 years ago

    Dear Terrene,

    I have a shade section in my garden - it's native plants including native shade grasses and sedges.

    Bottlebrush Grass
    Canadian Wild Rye
    Woodland Brome

    These three (especially the Brome) wintersow very easily. The Rye and Brome do need a decent area to spread about but they are all beautiful and graceful in a way that the Asian grasses can't compete with. Absolutely beautiful to watch on a breezy day.

    I too also have lots of the N. Sea Oats.

    The native Burr Sedge (Carex grayii) has large seed heads and will often self-seed as well over the winter. I just cut back the sedge in Jan to early March and scatter the seedheads. It will take part shade to full sun.

Sponsored
Ed Ball Landscape Architecture
Average rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars30 Reviews
Exquisite Landscape Architecture & Design - “Best of Houzz" Winner