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Panicum virgatum - floppy mess
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Posted by
aachenelf z5 Mpls MN (
My Page) on
Wed, Aug 24, 11 at 13:54
| Does anyone else have this problem? This grass has to be the worst I grow as far as flopping goes. I'm tempted to exile it to the compost pile. It starts out great, but when it reaches 3-4 feet high (before the seed heads form), a moderate rain flattens it from the center outward. A moderate wind does the same.
If I would remember to securely state it earlier in the season, that would probably help, but staking is probably my least favorite chore and I usually avoid plants that need a lot of it.
Kevin |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Panicum virgatum - floppy mess
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| Some varieties are better than others. My 'Prairie Fire' is perfectly upright at the moment. They typically must be grown "lean and mean" (think prairie). |
RE: Panicum virgatum - floppy mess
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| P. virgatum Shenandoah has been very upright for me. A blue variety panicum (forgot the name) flopped so badly for me I couldn't stand it and removed it. I noticed this year that some of it had returned - I tripped over it since it was lying flat on the ground! Both were planted in the same corner (triangular) bed as sentries for the path that ran through the bed. As far as I could tell the planting conditions were very similar for both of them. Full sun, heavy clay soil, on a small rise above a drainage swale, planting holes were not amended & no fertilizer (not even much mulch) was ever used on them. Shenandoah also grew much faster (crowding the path, of course) than the bluish one. |
RE: Panicum virgatum - floppy mess
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| Thanks for the info and suggestions. I don't think my plants growing spot is overly rich, but maybe it is. In any case I can't do anything about that, so maybe this isn't the best plant for me - at least the one I currently have. Kevin |
RE: Panicum virgatum - floppy mess
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| I have both Shenandoah and Prairie Fire. Both stand up well for me, though PF has a more upright habit and Shenandoah has a softer more billowy look.PF colors up earlier. Northwinds is a very upright one but I've lost two of them. I later found out that the crown needs to be set a little higher than the others. My floppy mess is Sioux Blue Indian grass. Though I love the blue color I don't want to look at it laying on the ground. I"m guessing the abundant rainfall earlier this year may have contributed to the problem. |
RE: Panicum virgatum - floppy mess
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| I have a P. virgatum hybrid whose habit of sprawling after heavy rains annoyed me a few years back, so I cut it back repeatedly one season with the goal of eventually removing it, something I never got around to. It's been better behaved since then. Sometimes you've got to put the fear of God into misbehaving plants. ;) |
RE: Panicum virgatum - floppy mess
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| One good way to deal with plants like this is to put 4 wooden stakes into the ground around it, roughly 12 to 18 inches tall, and then staple a round of chicken wire to the stakes and let the plant grow through that. I have 'Heavy Metal' and it doesn't flop in summer. All of them will flop in the winter with the snow load. |
RE: Panicum virgatum - floppy mess
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| I have had several cultivars of P. virgatum for 3+ years now - Shenandoah, Rostelbrach (sp?), Heavy Metal, and Cloud Nine. They are all upright for me, not a single one has ever flopped. Cloud Nine is a very tall cultivar at over 6 feet with the "cloud" of blooms, and it doesn't even flop. The floppiest grass I ever had was Miscanthus variegata, and I couldn't stand it flopping over the surrounding perennials. Gave it away. |
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