Work to be Done

Back in July I did a post on how well the dry river bed garden had filled in this year.  Last year, some of the grasses were slow to respond.  I divided a few hoping to rejuvenate them.  I relocated some that were in too much shade.  Just about the time they began to look lush and put out their beautiful seed heads it was time to cut them down.  That is a process that I have resisted each autumn.  But it really is a necessary step.  The first winter I left the grasses standing.  In the spring it was a horrible mess.  The damp, dead grass did not pull loose like day lily foliage and it was also nearly impossible to cut with shears or any other battery powered tool I have.  Lesson learned.  Now the grasses get cut down the first of October before the tree leaves fall and before the frost knocks down the grass.

The River Bed in July

This is the first year that I have begun to look forward to cutting this down.  It beginning to look pretty wild and wooly.  There is a lot of work to be done.

...and today

There are a few things that remain uncut.  Namely the Butterfly Bushes, the Button Bush, four Elderberry bushes and a Ninebark.

All of the tall grasses need to be cut close to the ground to discourage rodents from nesting in them and destroying their roots.

The Coleus have almost completely outgrown their container, but the Heuchera in the whiskey barrels are actually evergreen and will only require some cleanup in the spring.  I will need to keep them protected with some wire and perhaps a frost cover because while the deer leave them alone during the summer, "green" foliage in the middle of winter will be a rare treat.  This spring they found one I left unprotected and ate it down to the roots.  It took three or four months for it to recover, but it survived.

The Hostas are still small and can easily be trimmed with scissors or pruners, but the grasses have to be contained in a twine or bungy cord as best we can and cut with the Stihl Kombi power scythe

So the days are numbered.  We will start with the rest of the landscape, removing the many daylilies and other tired perennials.  At this point any remaining daylilies are just piles of dried grasses and I have continued tearing them out by hand as I start with the worst looking areas nearest the house first.

The giant Black Eyed Susan has continued to look nice despite flopping over.  I don't remember an year where the BES flowers have looked fresh more than two or three weeks, and this plant has been putting on a beautiful show since the first week of August.  Otherwise I would have cut it back weeks ago.