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Fall is another time when gardeners love to 'cleanup' the
garden. Whoa! Don't go too crazy on these plants. Take to
heart the following hints.
Hostas
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Allow the plants to die back normally. Cutting them
back before they are dormant will shorten the energy that they can
store prior to a long winter's name.
- Enjoy their fall color! Some hostas turn a wonderful
yellow in the fall. Kind of like the colors that trees reveal in the
fall (notice I did not say turn). You would think that you planted a
completely different plant!
- Personally, I leave the dried leaves attached to the plant
throughout the winter. In this way it catches some blowing snow adding
to some insulation capabilities. Secondary, it also helps me to locate
the plant during spring cleanup.
Grasses
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Now your ornamental grasses are really showing their
stuff! They are really a grand plant.
- You may want to protect from early frost some Miscanthus
varieties that plume late in the fall like 'Gracillimus' and
floridulus. If the plume is not mature enough, the frost may prevent
it from maturing and displaying its 'stuff'.
- Don't cut them down! They are a four season
grass. It is great to have some substantial vertical height to a
winter dormant garden. Check out our winter
ornamental grass scenes!
- Enjoy the snow and frost on your grasses. They are
there to catch this spectacle. Take the time to go up close and look
at the winterizing of your ornamental grasses.
- Pennisetum sec. 'Rubrum' I get tons of questions about overwintering this plant. These
plants are extremely frost tender and will die when exposed to freezing
temperatures. Planting them in containers for summer growth expedites
the process to protect them. If in movable planters, you can move them
to the garage or porch to extend their fall display. Then you can
winterize them. See the supporting web-page for this plant.
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