{"id":106971,"date":"2025-08-27T16:32:33","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T20:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=106971"},"modified":"2025-08-27T16:32:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T20:32:33","slug":"sometimes-you-just-gotta-rip-it-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=106971","title":{"rendered":"sometimes you just gotta rip it out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Pennisetum villosum middle foreeground mid July 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Feathertop Grass, known as the least robust of the fountain grasses, is everything I want in a medium-sized fluffy grass. Admired daily, I watched how the circumference of the clump expanded and stretched into the gravel and grew more and more exceptional in every way I wanted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I never heard of the \u201cWooly Bear\u201d caterpillars that appear in late summer here until finding them in the Oregon garden, or their mythic weather-predicting abilities. But the Feathertop Grass could just as easily be known as the Wooly Bear Grass for their fuzzy and endearing similarities.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But there was that mission creep. The grass was doing everything I wanted, even if it was more vigorous than expected. Not wanting to interrupt its summer flowering, I decided it could easily be divided next spring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Spreads by rhizomes, and I’ve also found one seedling too<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But this morning I reasoned there was no harm in removing some of the runners, just to be on the safe side, and there would still be plenty of plumes left. And that’s when I was confronted with how pernicious and deep the roots were, and how dangerous its presence was to this little garden, As a light rain fell, the Feathertop Grass and I battled for control. I wanted none of it left to take root again. (Frustration over glaringly obvious dangers to a healthy civic life is undoubtedly spilling over into the garden.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In a different soil, different climate, larger garden, I might reconsider planting Feathertop Grass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I moved the pot of flowering oregano and Blue Oat Grass into the void. Goddess Flora, grant me enough self-control to not replant the area until I’m sure the Feathertop Grass is truly eradicated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aloe boylei<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In happier news, my potted Aloe boylei, the largest-leaved of the grass aloes, is throwing a bloom. It was kept in its pot under the porch awning last winter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This small garden can’t accommodate more than one strapping eucomis, but at least it obligingly throws a sensational flower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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plush, silvery Argentina lineata sending out flowering stems<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Eryngium pandanifolium<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eryngium pandanifolium needed a frustrating amount of cleanup in spring, and the sprawling clump was reduced to two rosettes. Both are blooming, and I have to admit that once the onerous work is done in spring it requires no attention. Camassias are planted behind the eryngo, which may or may not work. We’ll see next spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take care! AGO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Feathertop Grass, known as the least robust of the fountain grasses, is everything I want in a medium-sized fluffy grass. Admired daily, I watched how the circumference of the clump expanded and stretched into the gravel and grew more and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5119],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paNJ2E-rPl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106971"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=106971"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107018,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106971\/revisions\/107018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=106971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=106971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=106971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}