Hi Leslie,

Don't you just love this grass?! I planted 3 last spring and they are back. We had a so-so winter, brief lows of around 5 below, and they had no protection other than a bit of shredded leaf mulch. Very much looking forward to their performance this year!

I do love it. Hopefully more so this year. I got it on line last summer, and it was just a sprig of a plant. I will let you know later how well it does this year.
Leslie

Leslie -

While running around yesterday I saw "Karly Rose" on sale at a Bellevue nursery. As I too live in the east part of Nebraska I am not real comfortable with Karly Rose being hardy in our area.

Everything I've read or have been able to find says Karly is a Z6 plant. But, then again it would not be or will not be the last time we've spent money on a plant that we just had to have.

We first saw Karly Rose at the Powell Garden just outside of Kansas City. Very attractive grass. The inflorescence with its soft pink hue was really eye catching. At least at Powell Gardens.

Jake

I've never heard of it, nor do my books list its common name. What is its botannical name?

BruMeta, it's Pennisetum orientale 'Karley Rose'. It overwintered for us here Z5 this year. But we have significant snow cover. Polly

And we didn't have much snow at all. Maybe a total of 8". But we didn't have the bitter below zero temps all that much either. So I feel we had a mild winter, and had it been a "normal Nebraska winter" it may have not made it. But, I am glad it did. I believe it is on the border of making it here.
Leslie

Karly Rose has been fully hardy here in 5b with very little snow cover. It's very late to show green.

Karley Rose is also adaptable here. It has taken -10F a few years ago without a problem or any protection- at all...
It is always one of the last grasses to emerge for me in Spring. It is probably also my favorite...

I read it was hardy to zone 5, but sometimes those claims are not true. But in this case, and the mild winter we had, it did make it. Anxious to see it this summer, it's 2nd, because it should be a little larger clump than last year.
Leslie

Karley Rose has returned for the 4th year here in my zone 5 just north of Pittsburgh. I divided her this year into 3 pieces. All 3 are now showing a little green. She is late to take off, but once she does, stand back. I have never given any protection other than a 2 inch layer of pine bark that is over the whole large bed she is in. This winter was the coldest, but with the most snow cover. This is a most attractive grass. Worth trying for sure.

I am new here and found this site by searching for Karly Rose. I am so glad to see that this is a late grass, since I was worried that she might have winter killed. She was new last year & I loved her. Are there other grasses that are late, too? My Ravenna grass & a few others are not showing any green yet either.

I planted a Karly Rose last year and was certain it was dead in late May of this year...but in early June it started showing signs of life and now it is a beautiful as it was last year. I now know to wait on this baby before giving up on her...She just likes to sleep late is all. She should have been called Lazy Mary rather than Karly Rose.

Blackie

Bringing this back up.
My Karley Rose is still doing great. It is late to green up, but is doing great as of the first part of this month.
Leslie