Tag Archives: meadows

Renewing the meadow

Timing is critical: renew too early and there might be some leftover seeds that the birds would have loved to eat. Too late, and you’ll be removing new growth as it starts at the end of winter. Then there’s rain: this meadow doubles as a rain garden, so if you cut too soon after aContinue reading “Renewing the meadow”

Aster chilensis trimming results

Last year, our California asters grew. And grew. And grew. By flowering time, the plants were about six feet tall. Too hard to appreciate the flowers at that height without a ladder, but the plants had a solution: as the season progressed, they drooped. We couldn’t cut them because we wanted the seeds as aContinue reading “Aster chilensis trimming results”

Planting sedge plugs in summer

It would be nice if plant availability and the optimum planting season coincided, or if planting time on a project were planned for cooler weather. They’re not. Since we’re not in an ideal world, things sometimes must go in the ground during hot weather. The trick, then, is to develop techniques that ensure a highContinue reading “Planting sedge plugs in summer”

Deschampsia. Muhlenbergia. Calamagrostis. Grasses have really long names!

Two of these grasses, the Deer Grass and the Tufted Hair Grass, are California natives. The other, Karl Foerster Grass, is a hybrid that does very well here. Tufted Hair Grass has been proposed as a lawn substitute, but that would mean mowing off the flower stalks, since at about three feet high they makeContinue reading “Deschampsia. Muhlenbergia. Calamagrostis. Grasses have really long names!”