Along with the sun and warmer weather, spring brings with it lots of jobs to do in the garden. And one of those is giving your ornamental grasses a good chop.
Early spring is the perfect time to sort your garden out, and more often than not, it's also the right timeframe to prune and preen key plants. One such plant that needs a little TLC when the weather starts warming up is ornamental grasses.
As always, the gardeners at Sarah Raven's Perch Hill garden are leading the charge and sharing their fool-proof method for pruning tall grasses – even sharing their simple trick for making the whole process cleaner and quicker.
Quick and effective method for cutting back ornamental grasses
While you may have already completed all the essential March garden jobs, April brings with it even more tasks to tick off the list, such as pruning grasses.
"Miscanthus brings wonderful height and texture to the garden over winter, but now that the new spring growth is starting to come through, it’s time to give it the chop," said the Perch Hill gardeners via the @sarahravensgarden Instagram account.
Although pruning timings can vary depending on your location, a good way to know it's time to prune your ornamental grasses is to see if there's new green growth coming through. If you can see green shoots, it's time to chop.
Pruning, whilst fantastic for your plants, can often make a bit of a mess in your garden, especially when pruning taller varieties like privacy plants like hedges and shrubs.
The experts share their advice for keeping your grass in check. "A good tip is to tie it all together with a piece of twine so that once you start cutting, the stems don’t fall everywhere," explains the Perch Hill garden team.
When it comes to the actual chopping, they say you can, of course, use some handheld secateurs, but as with their twine trick, they have a quicker alternative.
"You could just snip away with your secateurs. But as March is a busy time for all gardeners, sometimes we just have to take a shortcut," they say.
Going for the electrical alternative with hedge trimmers, you can make what would be a lengthy, back-breaking job into a quick one. Extendable loppers are an option too, they're one of the essential tools every gardener needs for a reason.
The team at Perch Hill recommend cutting back to just above the level of new growth. "Although don’t worry too much if you catch the top of it, that won’t stop it from growing," they add.
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Thanks to the twine trick, once you've finished the chop, the team say you should be able to simply lift the old stems as one big bundle. Then you can add them to your homemade compost heap, but just make sure you break them down first.
"The new growth will come up quickly, and by summer it will be standing tall above the dahlias again," continues the team.
Now your grass is ready to grow tall and become a fantastic plant for shading your garden this summer.
Ornamental grasses are one of the most alluring plants to liven up your garden and don't take much maintenance. They even look great through winter before you chop them for new growth.
