Ornamental Grasses

Ornamental Grasses

Transcript

00:00some of the grasses form really dramatic sort of bamboo-like growth this is a miscanthus

00:10sacchariflorus they all have different qualities you've got the calamagrostis which is terribly

00:15upright discanthia which is splays and is is lighter and area there are two types of grasses

00:22evergreen and deciduous the evergreen has some green in it left over from last year for example

00:29this here this pheasant grass is a mixture of brown and green which means that it is evergreen and

00:37shouldn't be cut back I'll show you how to deal with those in a moment but if you've got a miscanthus

00:41or a calamagrostis say all the previous year's growth will be brown and that can be removed cut

00:49right at the base of the plant but if there is fresh green growth there cut above that because of course

00:59grasses don't grow from the top and if you cut them they're going to have a cut line as they grow up

01:05looking at a bed of grasses to me is like feeling a beautiful fabric it has that lovely quality and

01:16the second aspect is sound grasses sound fantastic they pick up the wind and you get this beautiful

01:25musical sound from them that's the first pass of the deciduous grasses but the evergreen ones have a

01:37very different technique for clearing them out and they do need a tidy up you don't just leave them so

01:43all you're looking to do is put your hands in and just tease out the dead growth so see there you are

01:53you come out with a handful of dead growth but you haven't removed any of the green livestock and go

02:00through them all just tidying them up really if you've got pheasant grass like I have here hands

02:11are good if you're doing pampas grass for example which is an evergreen use gloves because you can cut

02:19your hands to ribbons on grass now inevitably you have a huge amount of material to clear up you may

02:29wonder what on earth to do it but it will all compost if you've got a shredder that's brilliant push it

02:35through that otherwise just get a pair of shears clip it up try and reduce the size of it increase

02:40the surface area don't be tempted just to chuck it away or even burn it use it