Sea Oats

We have talked about turfgrasses and erosion before, but two weekends ago I was on the Gulf Coast and was able to witness this in practice one again.

Along the Gulf Coast a simple but important grass grows - Sea Oats. Sea Oats can tolerate the salty spray from the ocean and they have dense root systems. This makes them perfect for preventing erosion on beaches. The grass grows mostly on sand dunes and is a protected species in some areas. In fact, the sea oats we saw were completely fenced off and there were warning signs cautioning visitors against disturbing the plants.

All of that, for a Monocot.

Cutting Back Ornamental Grasses

Yesterday was beautiful in Kansas City. The gardener in me had to get outside and get my hands a little dirty! I decided to cut back my ornamental grasses that I wrote about yesterday. To make the job easier, first I tied each grass up with natural twine.

Then I used my Felco hand pruner to cut off last years growth about 6-8" high.

Since, I only have three, this was not a problem. If I had a lot of grasses, I would use a hedge trimmer. A hedge trimmer makes the job go really fast!

Ornamental Grasses

While walking around my yard over the weekend, I realized I still needed to cut back my ornamental grasses. I left them up over the winter for some interest during the cold months when I don’t have a lot of other color in my landscape. As you can see, they are starting to fall over (part from snow and wind, part from my kids hiding behind them.) Now is the time to cut them back before growth begins to resume later in the spring. If you wait too long, you will cut off the new growth and your grass will look funny.