If you ’re like me , you stargaze of having wholesale drifts of perennial and other herbaceous plant life , interplanted with bulbs and the occasional annual , barrack by the current trend of more natural landscape schemes , such as those designed by Piet Oudolf and his contemporaries , but the plain volume of plants ask to achieve such look can be out of range , financially , for most of us . It ’s been my long - term goad to redesign our back yard ( garden ) to easy eliminate the lawn and to replace it with such a planting scheme , but , such aggressive design take metre , but perhaps , not as much money as I might have dished out , mere because I am propagating many of my own plants which are either already in the garden , or , from source and cutting .
As if I have nothing unspoiled to do , I am in the middle of redesign a large part of our place – fundamentally , the integral back 2 acres which we can see from the house . All this amidst preparing for a great presentation next week at HOWlive in San Francisco , an even big app design project at employment that every child under ten around the earth will want next Christmas , and , yes – planting the summer garden , container and veg . So by nature , it ’s the stark time to diffuse some plant material , right ?
Propagating ones one perennials is extremely cost in effect , and as my purpose plants call for twelve of Hakonechloa , or Japanese River Grass , I ’d much rather circularise my own , rather than dish out out $ 18.95 for a one gal potful , which is , after all , just a lining ( division ) from someone else . My process started betimes this spring , in other May , for Hakenochloa must be divided after it has started new growth in the spring , but not any later than late June , as its rhizomes form roots shorty after exsert , if not at the same clip .
If one effort part too ahead of time in the spring , or too late in the summer , the resulting divisions would need to be expectant as the plant life , not unlike bamboo , forms long , trailing outgrowth , which all connect back to the central plant . The job is that these tenacious growths have no roots , as the plant produce and separate much like a wanderer we d , extending rootstalk during the summer , producing foliation , but the roots on these extensions do n’t emerge until the next bound , just as the plant starts to extend new rhizome , and this is the 2 week windowpane when the plant can be divided into many small flora . Just as the new growth is 2 or 3 inches marvellous .
I dug up one of our heavy golden Hakonechloa selections during the first week of May , just as the plant was start into growth , and brought the entire clump into the greenhouse so that I could examine and divide it while it sit around on the potting bench . In this way , I could cautiously remove dirt , and see on the nose where I demand to clip apart the strong , bamboo - similar extensions .
One needs to look cautiously , tugging and pull apart slowly the clustering , looking for extensions that have both new ontogenesis as well as at least 3 or 4 growths . You will notice that some have no source at all , and these I discard .
I use a commercial soiless mix , combined 50/50 with composted bark , a commixture common in the nursery trade , but one that perennials and many seedling like , as it combines peat , barque and draw of aviation space for oxygen . I pot up each partition into 5 inch sight , paying close tending to the planting depth , keeping the new development and roots at exactly the same deepness as when the mother plant was growing outdoors .
Once potted , I place the trays on a bench in the greenhouse for a week or two , as full sun will offend the new ontogeny , and I fertilize with a 9 - 17 - 49 Fertilizer to stimulate origin ontogeny , which is all important at this stage , as Hakonechloa are slow at rout , even during their most fast-growing ontogeny spurt of the twelvemonth . Divisions should spend sentence under shade cloth or alfresco in a protected , cool area for 6 – 8 weeks , to allow roots to fill the container before establish out in the garden .
My planting scheme send for for 48 Hakenochloa , as a more natural blended garden requires large drift of grasses for textural interest and coloring . This special pattern uses golden Hakeonochloa in a meandering ‘ stream - alike ’ planting , which operate through the centre of attention of this large new bed . Hakenochloa , when mature , appears unstable – the foliage lies in one direction , providing a flow texture which few plant can volunteer , but to achieve this core , one does need multiple plants . you could do the math , as I saw plants at our local nursery no larger than my partition for $ 18.95 . Combined with my seed raised perennials such as Rogersia , Anemone and Primula species , you may see how dollars can bestow up . I ’ll share more about my design plans for the largest part of my garden , until then , back to work . There is much more to found .
Oh , and in case you are wondering what Rogersia is – here is a brief intro : ( I know , sometimes I forget , take that everyone is intimate with all of these plants that I yak about ! ) . Above is a photo I exact today of some Rogerisa which I started from seed five years ago . I was infix to Rogersia many , many geezerhood ago , while still in in high spirits school , while work as a gardener at the Stoddard Estate , a Fletcher Steele designed garden . It can be difficult to find , unless you look for it at specialty nursery . Rogersia is not rare , just not vernacular .
You in general will find two mintage : Rogersia aesculifolia ( because , this species has foliage which looks very much like Aesculus , or the common Horse Chestnut ) , and R. pinnata , which is what I propagated this year from seed . The seeded player is quite tiny , and challenge to germinate , so I do n’t bear many of you to try growing it this way , but it is by far the most economical way to produce this slow growing flora , as , like many good plants , Rogersia are expensive . At $ 35 for a one gallon container , I attempt to add one or two of he red - leaved cultivars to my appeal each year , but from seminal fluid , the plain common is just as attractive . Architectural and long - dwell , it sits high on my must - have plant listing for shadiness garden .
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