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Ornamental Grasses -- Mondo Grass

By Ben Mester

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 13Dec2010
Word count: 531
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Ornamental grasses are very neat and varied. They can really enhance the outdoor spaces around a home. One ornamental grass that I really like is dwarf mondo. Dwarf mondo grass has a few really nice advantages that make it an amazing addition to a garden. The first is its ability to sprawl out and provide ground cover. Mondo grass in general, whether dwarf mondo or the regular variety generally grows in very thick and covers the entire ground around it. This makes it perfect as a border plant along walkways, or as a cover for unsightly bare patches of earth. While I was running a landscaping business, the ground was often very dry and barren in many places and just looked plain unsightly. Another great thing about dwarf mondo grass is that it requires less water than the regular mondo variety. This means you can plant more of it.

Ornamental grasses are very different from one to the next, which means that you can use multiple varieties in the same yard. Dwarf mondo grass doesn't grow nearly as tall as other ornamental grasses, generally 3-5 inches. And it doesn't have vibrant colors like Japanese blood grass. It remains a tightly packed ball of grass that spreads slowly at first, but picks up as it ages. Dwarf mondo grass also likes a fairly shady location, much more than a lot of types of grasses. But like most grasses, it likes soil with good drainage that's slightly acidic. If you're growing dwarf mondo grass, it's a great idea to dump your used coffee grounds on the soil around them every once and awhile, as this will help keep the acidity at a nice pH for them. Dwarf mondo grass is hardy and grows well in many different zones in the United States. Dwarf mondo grass is also very low maintenance which is nice. As long as it's planted in good quality soil with partial shading, it will grow and spread happily and fill in all the ground around it over time.

Because Dwarf mondo grass is so thick and low maintenance, people often like to use dwarf mondo grass and other varieties of mondo to achieve a very beautiful patterned effect. This is a great look for things like long walkways or islands on roads like the one pictured. Get creative and come up with something nice and striking. As long as you install a nice border between them and so some occasional trimming here and there, the setup should be otherwise very low maintenance. Once both sides grow in nice and thick, it'll look wonderful.

And as we discussed before, dwarf mondo grass is perfect when tightly packed against a stone or brick walkway. The low lying grass will stretch lightly over the edge of the walkway, giving an awesome effect. One effect that I really enjoyed seeing was using dwarf mondo grass along a walkway, with medium sized shrubs behind, and then larger bushes or trees behind those against the house. Because the greenery gradually got taller as it went back toward the house, it gave off a very lush impression and made the whole display seem thick, yet well groomed.

For more on grasses and planting them, check out my article on fescue sod and dwarf fescue. For landscaping and grass maintenance tips, check out my article on common grass problems.

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