Muhlenbergia

Get Ready to Weed and Prune

The best way to avoid weedy gardens is to start removing weeds early, while they are still small and easy to pull. While warm days tempt us to get a head start outdoors, winter still has plenty of punch left. What we can do right now, other than weeding, is prune shrubs and trees that flower on new growth. In my garden, that means Hibiscus syriacus (Rose of Sharon), Buddleia (Butterfly Bush), Roses, Callicarpa (Beautyberry), and Vitex agnus-castus (Chaste Tree) got a moderate pruning yesterday. Later this week, ‘Incrediball’® Hydrangea arborescens and Spirea will get their cutback also. Hydrangeas that flower on stems grown in the prior year (“old wood”), Forsythia, and Azaleas will wait until their blooms have appeared and faded before they get a trim. Do not cut back Artemisia or Lantana until you see evidence of new growth in spring. Any winter pruning may cause these two to die rather than return when weather warms.

Another plant group that received a chop this week are my grasses and grass-like groundcovers. I allow my Muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris ‘White Cloud is my favorite) to remain full size through the entire winter so that I can enjoy the feathery plumes even after the seeds have blown away. Muhly grass looks neater when it is cut back before new growth begins, but please take care to not prune too short. A reduction by half will usually provide a good foundation for spring growth without damaging the crown. Pruning damage to the crown of the plant may stunt future growth or even kill the plant.

A properly pruned Muhly grass

An excellent space filler for zones 5–10 is Liriope, commonly known as Monkey Grass or Lilyturf. There are two types of Liriope. Liriope muscari is a clumping type that prefers full sun to part-shade. It forms a dense mound that enlarges slowly. Liriope spiciata is a spreading type that prefers part-shade to shade. It enlarges by undergrown rhizomes and will also reseed. If you need help remembering which is which, recall that spicata, spreading, and shade all start with the letter S. Both types may look better with a late winter cutback to remove damaged or diseased leaves.

As an inexperienced gardener, at Liriope pruning time I would raise my lawnmower to the highest blade setting, install the bagging attachment, and mow my Liriope beds. This worked okay for the first year or two, but then I noticed that I was scalping the middle of the clumps of my Liriope muscari. By midsummer, the scalped section looked tan and ugly – like giant green bagels. I have since learned that mature plants mound in the center as they become congested. Your choices are to either hand prune or to divide, separate, and re-plant. Hand pruning a large area can be hard on a gardener’s hands, but my husband gave me a battery-operated pruner last year that makes the task quick and easy. This is a must-have item for the serious gardener. Mine is a Dewalt, but there are many different name brands of this super tool and they all have a different balance point. Pick them up to determine which one is most comfortable to your hand.

You don’t want to miss next week’s guest blog by garden writer and horticulture consultant Robert “Skip” Richter. He is the host of GardenLine on KTRH 740 AM; Saturdays & Sundays 6-10 am. His website is Gardening with Skip. Next week’s blog will tell you everything you need to know about nutsedge.

Storm Surviving Perennials

Many of us in the NC/SC/GA/TN area are in recovery mode from the devastating damage caused by Hurricane Helene. As I write this, Hurricane Milton is getting closer to Florida. In the past, I have written about the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge in Lake Lure, NC. The photos of Lake Lure and neighboring Chimney Rock show heartbreaking damage There will be a long, long recovery.

I’m sure that you have all seen photos of the storm damage, so I won’t belabor the point, but I wanted to share one photo of a house three miles from us that was literally split in half by a toppled tree.

A massive oak tree split my neighbor’s house in half.

My house and barns were undamaged but my woodlands lost many large trees. Just two days after the storm, I sat on my front deck and marveled at the resiliency of nature. Butterflies and hummingbirds worked tirelessly, instinctively aware that cool weather is in the near future. Nearby, pileated woodpeckers complained loudly that their home trees were felled, but then they got busy chiseling new holes. It sounded like a construction crew hammering. A few perennials were unfazed by the thirteen-plus inches of rain that fell. Though many have long passed their peak beauty, Lantana and Cuphea look as good now as they did four weeks ago. So does my white Muhly grass, the focus of today’s blog.

Last year, I installed groupings of Muhlenbergia ‘White Cloud’ and Mexican Salvia. My plan was to highlight the purple and white flowers of the salvia by providing them with an airy white background. Many salvia stems were broken in the recent storm and a few plants were even blown from the ground, but the white Muhly grass looks great.

While many gardeners grow pink Muhly, the white form Muhlenbergia capillaris 'White Cloud' has some advantages over its warmer-toned sister. The white type has a more upright form than the pink. It blooms about two weeks later, so it is a perfect companion to fall-flowering salvia, asters, tall sedums, and chrysanthemums.

White Muhly is cold-hardy in zones 6-9. It will tolerate almost any well-drained soil as long as it is given full sun. To avoid problems, site plants in areas with good air circulation and avoid over fertilization. Spent seed heads look attractive well into winter. Give them a shallow cutback in late winter or early spring, being careful to avoid crown damage.

According to Hoffman Wholesale Nursery, “Muhlenbergia was named after one of the first early-American scientists, Lutheran minister and self-taught botanist, Gotthilf Henry Ernest Muhlenberg (1753-1815). He became interested in botany while hiding from British soldiers during the Revolutionary war.”

Plants grow to three feet tall and three feet wide. They look best when planted as groups rather than as singles. are deer and rabbit resistant. They are native to central and southern US.

This mass planting of Muhlenbergia appears to advantage at the top of a retaining wall.

Muhly Grass for Autumn Color

Autumn colors are orange, red, yellow, rust…and pink? Across the southeast, Pink Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris, pronounced mew-len-BERG-ee-ah or mew-len-BER-jee-uh) is reaching its peak. We do not usually think of grass as a flowering plant, but there is no mistaking the decorative value of pink Muhly. Its feathery plumes float like clouds of pink cotton candy. A white-flowered form is available also but is harder to find than the pink variety. White varieties bloom a little later than pink forms.

 Mulhy is easy to grow in full sun, zones 6-9. Native to North America, it will grow in sandy, rocky, or clay soil. Avoid constantly wet soils. It is not troubled by insects or diseases, and is highly resistant to deer damage. Plants grow up to four feet tall and  three feet wide. Established plants are heat and drought tolerant. The narrow leaves sway gracefully in breezes. Flowering begins in autumn and is followed by attractive seed heads that persist through winter, providing food for birds. The purplish-pink form ages to a creamy tan color and the white form ages to an attractive gray.

 A standalone plant is attractive, but mass plantings of Muhly are gorgeous. Two pairings that are particularly attractive: Pink Muhly with purple-leaf Loropetalum,  or White Muhly paired with purple-flowered Mexican Salvia (Salvia leucanthemum).

 Plants may need to be divided every three years or so to avoid dieback in the centers. Give clumps a cleanup cut in late winter or early spring, before new growth starts, but do not cut so short that the crown is damaged. While some other grasses may become invasive, Muhly is well behaved and makes a perfect addition to the low maintenance garden.

Pink Muhly Grass used as an edging

Blooms look like cotton candy