Cutting the Ornamental Grass

A large sweep of tall grass starts behind labyrinth and covers the top of the steep slope down the ravine.  The grass, Miscanthus sinensis 'Gracillimus,' was on site 2000 when we bought the house.  It is on the left side of this photo, behind the low juniper edging.  Screening our neighbor's house from view when it is fully grown, it provides privacy for people who walk the labyrinth.  Its dramatic 30 foot wide drift rolls in waves in the wind, just as the water in the Chesapeake.

Here is a similar photo to the one above, showing the difference with the grass cut down.  Each spring the ornamental grass must get cut before the new green stalks begin growing.  February is the preferred month, with the temperature in the upper 40's or low 50's.  Using the electric hedge shears, this section took six hours to cut the grass, collect the straw and haul it down the hill into the brush heap.


If you look to the left of the tall pencil hollies, beside the edge of the junipers, you can see the brown, rounded stumps of grass.  Our neighbor uses the grass along the edge of her lawn.  I cut off some of that also, which can be seen behind the juniper.

Looking directly at the location from within the labyrinth, you can see the dramatic difference without the soft wall provided by the six to eight foot tall grass.  The Bay is even visible through the leafless trees, though that view will be gone once the leaves open up.  In the next two months, the grass will have grown high enough to provide a sense of enclosure and protection.  It also helps anchor the evergreens so that they don't seem to float so close to the edge.  There is an open view of the Bay, through the gap in the trees made by the ravine, just six feet or so to the left of the picture.  So, as a person is walking along the path away from the road, there is a shift from an intimate, private space to a long view to the horizon.