Muhlenbergia Species, Nimblewill

This is a much-maligned native grass (native to north America)...so many people view it as a weed, trying to eradicate it.

...Read More I like it very much. It has an orderly growth habit, and the blue-green foliage is beautiful during the growing season. It dies down in winter, turning a light beige or pale yellow.

I use it as an accent plant, in little cracks and crevices, shady gravelly areas, like around the edge of driveways. It can sometimes form thick mats, but usually it coexists peacefully with other plants.

It spreads, both vegetatively and by seed, but not as aggressively or quickly as a number of grasses or weedy plants. I recommend it more for shady areas and gravely edges than in a sunny lawn.

There are many wonderful ornamental grass varieties under the name of muhlenbergia...this is not considered to be one of them.
<...Read Morebr /> My first contact with this grass was with a customer I was servicing as a lawn care specialist. She was very clear, I want this bermuda grass to cover this yard, my yard keeps washin' away!

I instinctively looked to her yard and it's surroundings. Two huge pin oak trees fully covered her front yard, moss covered her brick angled flowerbeds full of heavenly bamboo, hosta, and one scale infested camellia japonica. It appeared her yard had three to four patches of healthy bermuda in FULL SHADE, on the north side of the house.

I got down on the ground and pulled up a CLUMP. No rhizomes
anywhere. It came up so easy, like pulling fire weed.

This looks like 'muda but it 'aint 'muda
.
Afer taking samples I later learned the full facts concerning
NIMBLEWILL, and why it is SO HATED!

I DO NOT HATE IT though! Some of the samples I took I layered
in my back yard fescue plot. When my fescue gets weak in the heat
of summer (zone 7), the nimblewill takes over. In the fall it goes dormant, and I re-seed my fescue. I think so far it has
proven to be a decent substitution for BARE GROUND!
Not beautiful, but Applicable.
Diggo1