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GORGEOUS GRASSES MAKE EMOTIONAL ACCENTS

October 10, 2018
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by Lisa Watters Lain, Arizona’s garden gal, Watters Garden Center

Often banished to the outskirts with only each other for company, mountain grasses belong in the garden. You will find the largest selection at Watters Garden Center during autumn, the ideal planting conditions for these graceful beauties. 

Ornamental grasses are a landscape architect’s dream. Texture, motion, scent, plumes, light and even sound is garnered by strategic placement. A border composed solely of flowering perennials can be colorfully bland and become woefully empty at winter’s arrival. Grasses are best when playing off other plants in the landscape. Their graceful thread weaves together all other plants in the garden, making them appear more like family members. 

Twenty years ago, the pickings where slim for gardeners looking to grow grasses. Maiden grass, a clump of blue fescue or a pampas grass was considered a good selection. Now there are 300 varieties of maiden grass, four different pampas grass and dozens of small fescue companions, and that is where the selection begins. 

Western designers have found beautiful new ways to integrate grasses into the garden. Grasses are low maintenance but high-interest foundation plantings where flowers are clearly secondary to foliage. Most of the larger grasses I would consider super hardy with minimal garden care needed to flourish. Treat taller grasses like a sturdy butterfly bush, lilac or even small tree, and it is happy. Put them on the same irrigation cycle.   

Mistakes happen in the garden, especially with grasses. These are not solitary souls in the back of the landscape. Quantity is needed as much as quality for proper design. Plant odd numbers to splash through the garden. At the very least, buy one of three differing varieties and step each down in height, color and plume. This allows the eye to catch the motion in the landscape.

Plant in autumn spacing plants 1 to 3 feet apart. Dig a hole three times the diameter of the pot the plant is in and the same depth. Blend a 2- to 4-inch layer of mulch into the excavated soil. Carefully remove the plant from its container and place it in the hole so the top of the root ball is level with the soil surface. Carefully fill in around the root ball and firm the soil. Water thoroughly with a mixture of Root & Grow root stimulator. For more details, I have a free illustrated planting guide at the garden center: Please ask for one.

Unless you are a neat freak, don’t cut ornamental grasses back in the fall. Their sculptural forms and soft colors in the garden make winter bearable. Much better to wait until early spring, then cut back most clumps to just a few inches above the ground. In March, feed with All Purpose Plant Food 7-4-4, and fresh leafy blades will emerge, followed by the classic flower and seed heads. It can be just that easy to grow graceful grasses. 

I have some definite favorites, but far too many to list in one article, but some recommendations are in order. Pink to white pampas grass abound, but they are huge at 10 feet. Ivory Feathers pampas grass is a new, smaller version that requires less maintenance. Growing as tall as the average person, the purist of white plumes adorn this majestic beauty fall through winter. 

Regal Mist: In October this 3-foot Texas native sends up 1-foot cotton candy pink flower heads. The flower color lasts two months and is followed by an autumn harvest gold that stands tall through winter. 

Muhlenbergia: This can be grouped together in islands, planted around fountains or pools or planted near roads or walkways. Rarely finicky about the soil, and once established require little watering or fertilizing. Perfect for landlords because it creates an easy-to-care-for rental. 

Blue switch, Cabaret silver, Silver Variegated, Karl Foerster, Northern blue oats, Morning light and Blue dune all make exceptional garden plantings, but I’m out of words.

Autumn is the season to bring beauty, motion and soft romance to your beds and borders. This is also the ideal planting window for successful plantings. 

Until next issue, I’ll be helping local gardeners with grasses here at Watters Garden Center. 

Lisa Watters-Lain can be found throughout the week at Watters Garden Center, 1815 W. Iron Springs Road in Prescott, or contact her at WattersGardenCenter.com or FB.com/WattersGardenCenter.

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LOCAL NEWS: The Northern Arizona VA in Prescott has provided an update on their Homeless Veteran Program. . . .PRESCOTT, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona VA Health Care System’s Homeless Veteran Program, along with its community partners, housed 445 Veterans in 2022, exceeding their target goal by 157%.Nationally, the 2022 goal was to house 38,000 homeless Veterans— a goal that was exceeded by 6.3%. The Department of Veterans Affairs remains committed to ending Veteran homelessness and increasing housing placements is critical to achieving this goal.“This success is a result of efforts built on the evidence-based ‘Housing First’ approach, which prioritizes getting a Veteran into housing, then provides the Veteran with the support they need to stay housed,” said Steve Sample, Medical Center Director.In Northern Arizona, there are a variety of services designed to house homeless Veterans. The VA’s Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) Program includes VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) vouchers that provide formerly homeless Veterans with subsidized housing and a wraparound, interdisciplinary case management team to address issues that may have contributed to homelessness. The program provides justice outreach services, employment services, health care services through the Homeless Patient Aligned Care Team, outreach, and transitional housing support. The VA also works closely with community partners to house homeless Veterans through a system called Coordinated Entry, where community agencies along with the VA regularly meet to coordinate efforts and ensure homeless Veterans do not fall through the cracks.“We are fortunate that there is so much support for helping homeless Veterans in our area,” said Jessica Taylor, Homeless Program Coordinator for the Northern Arizona VA. “This success could not have been possible without great collaboration between our community partners, Housing Authorities, Tribal partnerships, and support from our local communities.”Looking ahead, the VA will continue to explore new avenues to house homeless Veterans and overcome housing barriers. In collaboration with U.S VETS, Gorman & Company, and the Arizona Department of Housing, a supportive housing project on the grounds of the VA’s Fort Whipple campus is in the initial planning stages. The VA is also expanding outreach to ensure that homeless Veterans are aware of services available to them. For Veterans who are homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness— or if you know of homeless Veterans in need of assistance, call 877-424-3838.For more information on renting to or hiring homeless Veterans, visit: www.va.gov/homelessAbout the Northern Arizona VA: Through its main campus in Prescott, along with Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) in Cottonwood, Flagstaff, Kingman, Lake Havasu City, and Anthem— with additional clinics in Tuba City, Page, Kayenta, Chinle, Holbrook, and Polacca, the Northern Arizona VA provides services to approximately 33,000 Veterans over a catchment area of more than 65,000 square miles.. . .www.facebook.com/VAPrescott ... See MoreSee Less

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Empty Bowls of Prescott Arizona has announced that it will distribute $24,000 to local foodbanks! Their 2022 Empty Bowls fundraising event took place in September, and donations can be made year round on their website.prescott-empty-bowls.square.site ... See MoreSee Less

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