Cutting Back the Grasses

I love perennial grasses. They give the garden structure for most of the year, swaying beautifully in the summer breezes, catching the autumn light so well, and in the winter – when there is barely any foliage and everything else has died back – they remain standing. When covered in frost they are magical, like here…

But by the time February comes round they look, quite frankly, a mess!

Miscanthus and Calamagrostis in February

After facing wind, rain and even snow for several months they are falling apart and need to be cut down before the new green shoots at the base appear.

Miscanthus Gold Breeze, February

At the weekend some milder temperatures finally tempted me out into the garden for the first task of the year. It was so good to be working outside again! With over a dozen Miscanthus this is not a quick job, but I had all day and made the most of it. I was lucky in that the ground was still partially frozen and I was not walking on muddy flower beds.

The ‘Edge, with Miscanthus, Stipa and Calamagrostis

The tool I use is this rechargeable Stiga mini hedge trimmer.

It managed all the grasses and a bit of perennial clean-up before the power ran out, so a good little tool.

However, after a lot of thought I decided a larger battery-powered hedge trimmer would make much quicker work of it and would be useful for spring clean-up too, so an Einhell has been ordered. (It makes sense for me sticking to this brand as I already have chargers and batteries for Einhell). I will need it when I tackle the Stipa gigantea…. it looks awful at the moment!

I have always simply pulled out the flowering stalks and any brown bits in past years, as this is an evergreen grass. But it looks so tatty this year I have decided it will get a good haircut a little later in the spring. Does anyone have experience of cutting back Stipa gigantea?

The cut stems are simply in a big pile on the edge of the meadow for now.

I must chop them up or at least move them soon, or we will have baby hares moving in! It does look rather cosy, don’t you think?

And here are some ‘after’ shots.

I feel better now it is done. I only miss them for a  short while, knowing the gaps will soon be filled with fresh green foliage.

Later in the day I made a list of all the grasses I had cut apart from Miscanthus, and I intend to focus on them for some blog posts in the late summer.

To name a few; Sporobolus and Eragrostis (which both last very well and can be used in vases right through the winter), Calamagrostis, Panicum, Stipa capillata, and Pennisetum.

Do you grow any ornamental grasses? When do you cut them back?

Here are a couple of long shots where many of the grasses show up best and when I love them most, in October. The Stipa tenuissima dotted around the garden do not need trimming back, just combing at some stage…

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I hope you will all be back in your gardens soon and having spring sunshine and birdsong to accompany you! Happy Gardening!