Questions About Purple Fountain Grass

[secuono]

Gahhh! How I hate annual plants! Such a waste of money and time...
Dang, I loved how purple they were...ugh. Guess I will get pink pampas this time! I know those live...


thanks

 

[897tgigvib]

Actually Sec, a good number of these tall annual grasses are...

BEAUTIFUL EVEN AFTER THEY ARE DEAD.

Leather grass especially. With that one it's hard to tell a living one from one that's been dead for a year. Some of these ornamental grasses are used in dried flower arrangements.

And with the easy to seed ones like Millet, snip the seed heads off, yank the plant, give it a shake, toss it in the wheelbarrow, rake the ground smooth, rub a seedhead or 2 in your hands, and broadcast a few for next year.

Ok, I understand, perennals plant once and there ya go.

 

[so lucky]

Sometimes you can find purple fountain grass in small pots, about 3" pots. Not expensive. They grow so fast, by mid season you will have an nice sized plant. I know they are annual in my zone 6, but I usually bite the bullet and buy 3 for a certain area. Not the gallon pot size, tho.

 

[vfem]

I have one and I got it for $12 in a 3 gallon! It was so big I split it when I planted it 2 falls ago. So I got 2 plants out of it, next fall I will split them again and get 4 plants!

I'd be careful the chickens may eat up the grassy part as well as the seed heads... you may not have any plant left!

 

[OldGuy43]

Well, planting it in the poultry run didn't work out so well. The chickens dug it up and the ducks ate it. Oh well.

 

[vfem]

Well, planting it in the poultry run didn't work out so well. The chickens dug it up and the ducks ate it. Oh well.

Yep.... you're having the moment I had when I bought lotus for the pond. $15 per plant, I bought 5.... they came to the surface a month later in May and I was thrilled! 3 weeks later the ducks devoured them all.

UGH!

 

[secuono]

I bought the big ones the first year late in summer, they died. Then last spring I bought the tiny ones and one of them got to be 3ft wide by 3ft tall, but both died right before winter started. They are ugly, smooshed blobs now. I don't want to be wasting even a dime on something that cannot live, makes no sense and I'm not the type who cares about looks so much that I need to keep buying them. There was a lady who kept buying those hanging ferns, she chatted with a lady next to her. She told her she buys 12 new ones every year at $25 each! Says she could put them in the house, but doesn't.

House is yellow, white fence, tar n chip blue stone drive. The purple grass on either start of the drive really made it look pretty, but now I need to find something else either very interesting or a cool color, that lives.

Oh, I remember a thread about Zones and how they are not detailed or w/e and to use some other Sun or something. That one sucks.
I'm Zone 7b, according to this map that I use and it's easier to see and get what areas are what.
http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

I've seen other people use the plain 10-11 color map, but that isn't good enough. This one has 26.

 

[897tgigvib]

There are other grasses zoned for anywhere practically, I suspect maybe even for Mars. Lol!

Ribbon grass is tough as nails. Foerster grass is tall and stately. Leather grass is smaller and still looks great even if it dies!

Zone 7b should be easy for lots and lots of ornamental perennial grasses!!! ducksoup piece of cake easy!

And, as for cost, Annual Millet makes its own seeds that are easy to start. They look decent and good for a few months after they die. That gives a chance to yank them easily, rework the ground, and reseed them with the seeds they made. The rest of the seeds are an added bonus for your chickens.

 

[vfem]

I bought the big ones the first year late in summer, they died. Then last spring I bought the tiny ones and one of them got to be 3ft wide by 3ft tall, but both died right before winter started. They are ugly, smooshed blobs now. I don't want to be wasting even a dime on something that cannot live, makes no sense and I'm not the type who cares about looks so much that I need to keep buying them. There was a lady who kept buying those hanging ferns, she chatted with a lady next to her. She told her she buys 12 new ones every year at $25 each! Says she could put them in the house, but doesn't.

House is yellow, white fence, tar n chip blue stone drive. The purple grass on either start of the drive really made it look pretty, but now I need to find something else either very interesting or a cool color, that lives.

Oh, I remember a thread about Zones and how they are not detailed or w/e and to use some other Sun or something. That one sucks.
I'm Zone 7b, according to this map that I use and it's easier to see and get what areas are what.
http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

I've seen other people use the plain 10-11 color map, but that isn't good enough. This one has 26.

Have you thought about lavender maybe?

 

[secuono]

Went to Lowes and fiance decided he wanted plants, totally not like him. Bought some veggie seed packets, different color Lily bulbs and two Black Elephant Ear bulbs and big pots for them. Then a pack of 50 Liatris bulbs, for the driveway corners and a Japanese Bird Nest's fern. We went in for a refrigerator bulb, lol.

Yes, I know Elephant ears are tropical, thus the pots. We will have them on the porch, pots are purple, so are the flowers on the plants on the drive. They will be brought into the house for winter. Maybe the purple grass can be a house plant...??

This was the purple grass, 2x the size after planting. It was at the top of the fence before winter hit and killed them. Going to put the Liatris in the rings or change it to an L shape and raised up two blocks so it will be easier to keep it separate from plain grasses and weeds.