Okay. I live in a fairly new neighborhood and though there is no HOA (praise be!) I do have to have my yard reasonably "in keeping" with the surrounding yards. Well, y'all know what the surrounding yards look like -- a little bit of golf course with either ligustrum, photinia, or holly close to the house, hedged in with liriope.
I'm on a corner, and have a ditch (which belongs to the county but I keep up, of course) on the side and at the front of the house. On the side, between the house and the ditch (about ten feet wide), I have planted forsythia with a little border of ditch lilies. That takes up the back half of that wall, from the house to the edge of the ditch. At the front half I'm putting in crepe myrtles (a National Arbor Day Foundation bonus) and what I'd like to do is have some sort of ornamental grass, maybe knee-high, around the crepe myrtles. This wall only gets morning sun so it has to tolerate partial shade. I don't want to mow there! I want to get this filled so it will be pretty. I have to leave the ditch as is (which means I really need to put sod down there come spring) and will still have to mow that, unless someone has a solution for that, too!
My bit of golf course is in the front. I've planted a weeping willow about in the middle. I'm willing to mow that area; just want to relieve myself of the side yard if possible. Every little bit helps! And by the bye, I'm going for the cottage garden look.
Any suggestions? Thanks!
Ann
Edited to say I just looked up dwarf purple fountain grass -- if anyone is familiar with this one, I'd appreciate a heads-up. It might do.
This message was edited Dec 19, 2006 10:08 AM
I need an idea to prevent mowing!
Buffalo grass - only grows 6" tall. Some grass farms are now raising it.
Purple fountian grass will not live year to year in your zone... if you go to www.texasstar.org you should get some great ideas on native grasses that would be great for your area.
Thanks to you both!
Frostweed (Josephine) runs the site, and I have found her to be a wealth of information. Maybe have you thought of Tall Blue Stem? A nice native that you can find easy on the internet (others might be able to give you leads or use the plantscout at the top of the page to look and see if any vendors have it right now. )
My fave is Pink Muhly Grass
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/ornamental_grass/muhlenbergia_capillaris.html
Thanks, Mitch, and fly_girl, I called all over yesterday to find muhly grass. At about 3 feet tall, I think it will be perfect. I think I'd do well to let the crape myrtles get a little taller before I put it in, but I think that's what I'm going to get.
My gulf coast muhly never gets over 2 feet high--but I never feed it either.
That's plenty high -- I want it high enough so people don't think I'm just not mowing -- but low enough to be pretty with the CMs. I got the CMs planted last night and am very happy about this rain. It's not supposed to freeze, thank heaven!