Amazing! What is the grass featured in the last photo? (It looks like there are two clumps on the left in the main bed and one in the right foreground)

In 'real life' there are 3 clumps on the left & on the right.
It was bought as Miscanthus sinensis 'Malepartus' - fabulous long leaves on this cultivar give it a unique shape.
A.

Very pretty! They do get huge don't they? You will now need a backhoe or dynamite to get those babies out! ;) I bet that looks lovely in the winter too.

That is amazing! I guess you knew something like this would happen, you seem to have things spaced and planted so that their mature size is taken into account. Good thinking!

What's the tall, sorta floppy grass all the way at the very back end of the bed? (just to the right of center in the photo)

Absolutely spectacular! I have a revennae grass out front and one of my neighbors got drunk and fell right through the center of it. She had little cuts all over her arm. She said she thought it would be soft. I was mad at first then I just had to laugh. It really was quite funny.

Anyway, your grasses are beautiful.

Dereks, Love your story :o)

Kato - I think the grass you are asking about is Sorghastrum nutans - Indian Grass. I am actually thinking about digging all these clumps out. I think it needs to grow on really poor soil - In this berm it gets really tall and then flops into everything else. On top of that it self sows ..... a lot! Between it & the Pennisetum alopecuroides (fountain grass) I am kept busy weeding out all the little grass babies :o(

Thanks, good to know. I was actually going to collect seeds of that one and try it in the garden but now on second thought I might plant it in a wild area where the soil is much worse and the self seeding would not be a problem.

I actually ripped all the pennisetum out because of the self seeding. During spring cleanup I would rake all the trimmings onto the lawn for mulching.... all that really did was spread the seed into the lawn. I ended up with seeds in the beds and raggedy clumps coming up all over the lawn.

LOL on the drunken neighbor! Hope your grass wasn't too mangled. ;)

I started plugs of Sorghastrum nutans this past Spring, it's very easy to start from seed. I've planted them out in my "meadow" gardens, which are in a wild area in the back of my lot. These gardens are being planted with seedlings of entirely native grasses and wildflowers, with native shrubs around the edges of the meadow. The soil is mostly sandy, mixed with some loam, and it's dry out there. Sounds perfect for the Indian grass!

Hi achnatherum,

Awesome pics! I have seen similar grass like on your last photo along Algonquin Rd, IL and another area. From what I remember, they've occupied maybe 80ft by 40 ft area. It's invasive. Maybe, what I saw was a different cultivar. I'll take pics tomorrow.

v1rtu..
same grasses in all my photos - just different years.
And, no, none of the grasses in these photos could be considered invasive. All are either clumping grasses (not runners) or natives.
Do take a picture & maybe we can tell you what you are seeing along the road.
A.