Last year, I purchased 3 muhly grass plants, which performed beautifully in our AR yard in the fall. I know these have to be cut back (preferably in February), however, we leave AR for FL the middle of December and don't return until April. This April, I had to cut back the old growth by hand (a real chore) in order not to damage the new shoots. Would I harm our plants if I cut them back before we leave in December or will I kill my little beauties?
It's OK to cut them back in December just don't cut them much lower than 1 foot from the ground. If you cut them too low they can get water into their stems and freeze from the inside out.
Thanks Plantfreak. I did notice the stems that had been cut the previous year were hollow and I know it's a no no to cut some plants in the winter for this reason. It really was time-consuming to trim them by hand this year and I figure the time could be better spent doing something else in the garden. Right now, we are pulling out vinca from our azaleas that had truly gotten out of hand. It is about the only thing that grows rampant in our yard -- everything else has to be babied and even then it sometimes dies. The next time dh tells me not to plant something, perhaps I will listen! By the way, where is Rolesville? I grew up in NC but am not familiar with that name.
Jean
Rolesville is five miles north of Raleigh and just south east of Wake Forest. It's a tiny, three stoplight town that's just close enough to the big city to not qualify as the boondocks :) I was actually born in Florida at Eglin AFB (Fort Walton Beach) and much of my family lives around Orlando. I like visting to see the different kinds of plants you guys can grow but I'm perfectly content with zone 7b. Any further south is just too dang hot!
Plantfreak: We spend our winters in DeLand, FL where I love to garden, as you can actually dig a hole without coming up with lots of rocks as you do here in AR. Most of the time I have to enlist the aid of my dh if I have any sort of plant that requires a large hole. We laugh and say that an AR shovel is a pick axe, but this is really no joke as it is one of my favorite tools! We lived for many years in Wheaton, IL, where the soil was wonderful. Lousy winters there, though. We are going to NC next month to visit relatives around Charlotte and in Pinehurst.
I used to live in Little Rock and can relate to the rock problem. I still joke about how I removed enough rocks from my garden to build a house!
NatureLover: I have built rock walls and rock gardens and have earned the name "The Rock Lady" from some of my friends! Vicksburg is nice -- we like to visit there and then go on down to Natchez for the Pilgrimage. I grew up in the south so anywhere in the south is a great place as far as I am concerned!
