Posts tagged as:

Winter

Post image for Pruning Miscanthus Grass: How to Cut Back Big Ornamental Grasses

Ready to prune your Miscanthus Grass? This is the time of year to do it! Ornamental grasses start shedding little grass bits everywhere in January, and with every windy storm they become increasingly messy until in early March you have a bunch of grass sticks still upright and grass leaves piled up everywhere in your garden BUT on your plant!

You also want to prune now because if you wait too long, the new growth will begin to emerge from the base and when you whack the old growth, you’ll also trim the new shoots, which is no good.

I’ve written before about how to prune ornamental grasses – which ones you ought to whack and how, and which you ought to leave be. The Miscanthus grasses are pretty much all in the “whack” category, except for M. transmorrisonensis, the Evergreen Miscanthus that still looks green and fresh in winter. You needn’t prune that one!

Here’s a quick tutorial on how I prune Miscanthus Grass in winter:

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Brrr! What NOT to Prune in Winter

by Genevieve on January 17, 2010

Post image for Brrr! What NOT to Prune in Winter

Right now it’s major big time pruning season here in Northern Cali. I’m cutting back hardy perennials, roses, fruit and other dormant trees and ornamental grasses.

But there are a few things I’m leaving alone for the time being. A lot of my favorite plants are frost-tender and can be killed by a stern frost this time of year. For some of these plants, the old, dead foliage and stems are providing just an extra degree or two of protection for the tender new buds and shoots coming along for next year.

Dormant Mexican Bush Sage - Salvia leucantha

Dormant Mexican Bush Sage or Salvia leucantha

New growth on Mexican Bush Sage Salvia leucantha

See the tender new shoots inside? The old stems help protect them from frost damage.

If you can hold off, don’t prune these frost-tender plants until after last frost, which here in Humboldt County is around mid-March:

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The Winter-Interest Secret Most Gardeners Forget: or How to Attract Birds

February 13, 2009

Winter interest is the Holy Grail for us gardeners, and we spend an inordinate amount of time planning out which cool foliage plant or winter bloomer we’ll tuck in.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a sucker for that year-round interest too – but there is another source of excitement during the darker months – birds!
During the [...]

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February Garden Maintenance for the Pacific Northwest

February 4, 2009

February feels like the eye of the storm for us gardeners – there’s just enough time between the winter pruning rush and the flurry of spring to take a deep breath, and begin thinking back on what worked especially well last year and what projects we might like to tackle this year.
Most of my February [...]

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In Other Words: Winter Pruning Guides from Around the Web

January 27, 2009

I’ve found some wonderful tutorials on pruning in the last few weeks, with easy-to-understand photos and step by step advice. Pruning can be intimidating for beginners, but these guides break it down and have an encouraging tone – they don’t make things more complicated than they have to be.
Here are the articles I’ve liked the [...]

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Stupid Thorns, Tasty Berries: How To Prune Raspberries (It’s Easy)

January 23, 2009

So every time I open up my pruning book to the raspberry page, I get deep unhappy furrows in my brow. Raspberries are a simple plant. Why do they have to make it so complicated?
There’s the summer-fruiting kind (with a short fruiting season), which fruit best on one year old wood. Ideally with these, you [...]

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Braving the Thorns Part 2: Pruning Your Dormant Rose

January 19, 2009

Rose pruning is such a satisfying task – you go from a tangled icky mass with thorns everywhere to a lovely clean set of sturdy stems – yet too many people are intimidated by their roses.
There’s no need to be shy! The worst thing you can do is not tackle them at all, since without [...]

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Ornamental Grasses: How to Prune Miscanthus, Stipa, and More

January 14, 2009
Thumbnail image for Ornamental Grasses: How to Prune Miscanthus, Stipa, and More

Now’s the time for us mild-winter gardeners to prune back many of our ornamental grasses. But how do you know which to prune back all the way, which to deadhead, and which to leave be?
Well, if your grass is an evergreen and is still looking great, then leave it be unless you want to clean [...]

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January Garden Maintenance: The To-Do List

January 11, 2009

If December is all about putting things to bed – raking, weeding, mulching,  and cutting back perennials – January’s for dreaming big dreams of the coming year’s harvest and blooms – pruning, spraying, and planting for a productive year.
You’d think while pruning a completely bare tree you’d feel wintry and rather desolate – but if [...]

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Garden Q&A: Snow-Loading on Arborvitae

January 9, 2009

A timely question from Jennifer about sprawling Arborvitae:
I have several 8-10 ft arborvitae that are bent over to various degrees from the weight of the heavy snowfall. Will these branches bounce back on their own or should I try to tie them to the main trunk to straighten them back up?

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