Ornamental Grasses add beauty to the landscape year round – here they are in late fall in full plume.
Those same grasses catching the beauty of a winter snow
Even though its still cold in the Midwest – this past week was spent caring for our ornamental grasses. They are a big part of our farm’s landscape – and now is the perfect time of the year to not only cut them back, but divide and transplant new starts as well.
Ornamental grasses come in all sizes and shapes, adding vibrant texture and color to the landscape throughout all four seasons. They require little care, are extremely drought tolerant, and can be used as the centerpiece or accent plants in flowerbeds. They can also be an extremely inexpensive way to landscape large areas, dividing a few existing plants into enough to fill a whole bed.
In just a few short years – we now have a little over 250 ornamental grasses in the landscape – grown from just 10 original plants from 5 different varieties. All of which we have grown and planted for free – transplanting and dividing grasses from friends, family and our own home’s landscape. We will be adding to that total this spring as we incorporate more into the front entrance and sensory garden areas.
Although many people cut them back in the fall – we leave our ornamental grasses up throughout the winter. It provides texture to the winter landscape, especially when snow or ice coat their tall spikes. Of even more importance, it’s a great refuge for birds and other wildlife that stay around through the cold winter months, providing them with wind breaks and easy-to-find nesting materials.
We use a reciprocating saw to cut the grasses off about 3 to 5″ above the ground.
However, once spring starts knocking on the door in late February and early March, we begin the simple process of cutting back and dividing. There are several ways to cut back ornamental grasses – but one of the easiest methods we have found is to use our reciprocating saw. Yes, it’s good for more than just tearing apart pallets! 
. We use a long 12” construction blade that makes quick work of cutting the grasses back, slicing through with a sharp clean cut. As a good rule of thumb, we cut ours back about 3″ to 5″ off the ground – leaving a little added support for the new grass as it sprouts up later in the spring.
We used 100% free ornamental grass transplants and perennials to landscape the barn patio area. Here is how the area looked right after transplanting.
By the end of last year- they had filled in beautifully – adding texture and color to the hillside. These should get big enough this year to grow into a nice privacy row.
As for what we do with the cut grass trimmings? Ornamental grass clippings are always one of the hardest materials we have found to compost in our piles. They don’t seem to chop well in our shredder, and they can take forever to break down. We speed the process up by piling them up in an open area, lighting them with a single match, and adding the resulting ashes to our compost bin once they have cooled down.
Once your grasses are cut back, its a great time to divide them to get extra plants for your landscape. From a typical 2 to 3 year old plant, we can get as many as 6 to 10 new plants. For those that want more information on the how to’s of dividing ornamental grasses, we have a complete tutorial that can be found here : Planting And Dividing Ornamental Grasses.
With the grasses all cut back now – we are hoping that we can turn our focus to building the new chicken coop…after all, the new baby chicks will be arriving in a few weeks, and we need bigger living quarters for the soon to be expanded flock!
Here’s to Spring! - Mary and Jim
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This year I cut mine down in the fall but thought that in the future I might just light them up while snow is on the ground as they are far away from everything anyway. It would be a lot easier than cutting!
That will work
such an excellent blog! Concise, exciting, and so informative. If the opportunity ever arises it might be interesting to see if you could predigest those cut grass stalks with oyster mushrooms before adding to compost.
Thanks for sharing
That’s a good thought – we may have to give it a try. Thanks so much for the kind words about the blog!
I just planted some native grasses last fall. I’ve had ornamental grasses in the past and found that they do much better when divided in the spring…good job! I would love to have you share this on The Creative HomeAcre Hop today
http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/02/the-creative-homeacre-hop-4.html
I have had absolutely no luck with ornamental grasses on the west side of my house. I had wanted to spruce up the corner where the house/fence met and hide the utility meter. I have black paper and river rock in the area and all my hosts do well (the knockout roses not as much due to the neighbors crab apple tree). Can you suggest a type of ornamental to use? Any other suggestions?
How much sun does the area get on an average day?
Never thought to burn them…. I will try that when I cut them down next month. Thanks for the info. Found you at Lisa Lynn’s blog hop. ~ Sue
Glad you found us Sue!
Make sure they are very far away from anything combustible. I saw some vinyl siding on a house that will need to be replaced due to melting! 6 feet was not far enough away!
For cutting back grasses, if you tie a piece of rope around th
Every winter, I light them on fire. They burn very quickly. I like to do this when there is snow,hot ashes make me nervous! I tend to do it early in the winter, the grass breaks and blows all over my property. Drives me crazy!
That’s a good way to make sure nothing catches on fire! I bet its a pretty neat picture with the flames and the snow.
Love your blog! I went out this afternoon and did just what you suggested here. You are so inspiring!
Wow – thank you so much!!!! Glad you like the blog! Jim
Thanks so much for sharing this on The Creative HomeAcre! I can’t wait to see what you share next time at…
http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/02/the-creative-homeacre-hop-5.html
Do you happen to be growing lemon grass? If so, it is more than just ornamental. Steep some in hot water just as you would any herb to make tea. Add honey, and you have a very delicious and nutritious tea! I just planted some for that purpose as well as for scent in homemade soap.
I enjoy your weekly posts that are so practical and to the point. Thanks for all you share with us.
Thanks for the tip Rose Petal – we do not but it is something I would like to add! Thanks you for the kind words as well