Monday, September 6, 2010

Pompous curls

Or rather….pampas curls.When we bought our home and I started working on the garden there were only two plants my husband requested not be included in the plantings: a lilac bush and pampas grass. Everything else was fair game. Sounds reasonable right? Well…growing up in a zone 5 climate pampas grass was something you thought of as exotic. Something you saw when you were on vacations, something “they” (whoever they are) could grow but you could not. Here was my chance; I could finally be one of “them.” I ached to be one of them. Except the man I loved was asking me not too.

I soon realized what I horror I narrowly escaped. They flop, they look messy even in the best of times and there is this. The huge dense mass of sharp dead sticks they leave when you cut them back. I do love the curls though.Oh and the lilac? He finally caved on that one. After all I come from “the lilac city” and nothing beats that lilac smell in the springtime.

11 comments:

  1. Too funny! I'm right there with him -- i have an aversion to both too, and my wife keeps pining for them. "Oh honey, they smell so wonderful -- can't we have just a couple?"

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  2. They really look dense....~bangchik

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  3. Their overuse here is rampant. People who know nothing of gardening and what other great grasses exist, all want this one.

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  4. Ugh... they're so saw like and painful! We have dead clumps like that near our flat and I can't stand em. When grown well in larger landscapes they can be great, but otherwise...

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  5. What a mess that grass leaves. The husband has a point.

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  6. I've never seen this before. So I googled and saw some beautiful photos. I don't like the mess as you pointed out though.

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  7. I am so with your husband on this grass! Snakes like to nest in them too.

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  8. Haha...I remember feeling the same way about Pampass Grass when I lived in Nebraska...it sort of represented ALL the other plants i couldn't grow. When I moved here, I was so awe-struck at how many people had it growing in their yards. I've decided to enjoy it in OTHER people's gardens...it is kind of a pain to deal with...I've been growing Saccharum Ravannae for a year or so now, and it is a nice substitute...gets huge, with lovely, arching blades, but doesn't form QUITE as dense of a crown. Between that one and different Miscanthus and Pennisetums, I can satiate my love for grasses :-) I can't imagine a garden without a lilac...you just CANNOT beat that scent!

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  9. The top and bottom photos are glorious, but you had to do some fancy camera-work to find the beauty. Don't we always want the thing we can't have? For whatever reason: hubby or climate or unavailability.

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  10. gh1, wives will do that...well, at least the good ones.

    Bangchik, they are! We put our dog on the top of the mess and she just stood there, like she was on a stage.

    Les, I was saved from the ordinary.

    RFG, it's been a long time since I've seen a really nice clump.

    gardenwalkgardentalk, I suppose they usually do.

    Evelyn, wow. That's amazing...I suppose it's all regional.

    Darla, seriously!? Yikes!!!

    scott, glad to know at least one Nebraskan can appreciate a good lilac!

    ricki, true...oh so true (wanting the thing we cannot have).

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  11. Good thing you didn't do it. I thought it was exotic too, and planted it in a really stupid spot. Poor Matti ended up digging the giant mass out. It can escape and be a pest too. Sorry for the mass comments. I'm catching up :)

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