Avoid the forgot-about look by trimming grasses now

We’ve all seen them — clumps of ornamental grass festooned with a brown mohawk of dead stems with fresh green growth fighting to shoot up through it. It’s a classic case of forgot-about-it syndrome.

Ornamental grasses are perhaps the most low maintenance of all garden plants. They don’t need fertilizing, pruning or even supplemental watering most of the time. They ask for just one human intervention each year — a hard cutback in late winter to clear out the previous year’s dead stems. And for as much as grasses are uncaring about almost everything, the timing of their annual haircut needs to happen before new growth begins lest they suffer from that odd forgot-about-it look.

If you try to cut the back after new growth starts, which for some grasses can be remarkably early, last year’s stems will have to be cut high, leaving an unsightly collar of brown at the base. The only look that is worse is when new growth is chopped off along with the old stems, creating a square top of stressed blades.

Cutting back ornamental grasses doesn’t take any skill, but clever gardeners have devised several methods to make it easier. For large clumps of tall grasses, a power hedge cutter can make quick work of leveling them. Tying a line or bungee cord around the stems before cutting keeps them from flopping all over and makes clean up a breeze.

Take after shorter grasses or smaller clumps with a brush cutter or strong string trimmer, and if the foliage is cut into smaller pieces on the way down, it is a perfect candidate for the chop-and-drop method of leaving it lie to serve as an excellent mulch.

Of course, more traditional methods, such as using pruning shears or a serrated sickle, work as well. One prominent product review website even recommended a scythe as an alternative to the string trimmer method, which will provide not only a good workout but also excellent conversation fodder at the next neighborhood block party or an accessory for a future Halloween costume.

If a giant bladed cutting instrument dating back to 5000 BC isn’t dangerous enough, another option for removing last year’s grass foliage is to burn them. This is probably the most “natural” method, particularly for the many grasses native to the prairie, and the best way to achieve the ultimate goal of removing as much of the old foliage as possible without damaging the crown of the plant.

Whatever method you use to cut back grasses, the time to do it is now, making it one of the first jobs of the year and therefore benefitting from the pent-up enthusiasm that makes even banal garden tasks exciting.

If you want to see what happens to grassy victims of forgot-about-it syndrome, look to parking lots and parkways, where they are unlikely to receive any attention until a landscaping crew makes their rounds in May or June. But no matter how much you want to save them from this preventable affliction, don’t take matters into your own hands, especially if you plan on showing up with a scythe.