Genus: Cortaderia

I simply love Cortaderia selloana.
I will write you another time asking you details about it.
Ciao.

Good for you Chris. They certainly look great, You see them a lot around here, especially near water.

You've every right to feel proud! It's very handsome.

Love your flagstones. Great colour.

Oh dear, it does look a bit fed up. Speaking from experience of my pampass which I have had for 3 years, I "prune it" by setting fire to it at the base which burns off all the dead foliage which works well. This spring mine was so huge we set light to it, dug it up, divided it, replanted the two halves & because we had halved it I cut the foliage down to about 12" to give the roots a chance to recover. It is now about 2' high with new green foliage coming. So all in all I would say that Pampass is pretty hardy to stand up to that.
I would be tempted to lift it to have a look at the roots, I'm sure it is worth saving. Re-plant it with lots of feed. Clear the dead foliage if you can & watch for the the new growth. Good luck with it.

looks great - i do love them but don't have the room, oh well will have to admire yours.

I like this.

My fingers are crossed for you, Chris.
Keep us posted on its progress :-)

I have heard that fires do work really well in keeping the pampass grass in check and it doesn't do it any harm although I'm pretty sure when it's dry it will go up really quickly which might be a little scary to watch.Hel.xxx.

If you have young children do be careful where you plant it ,the leaves are lethal and can give the unwary a very nasty cut ,they are so sharp. Yes set fire to it is the best by i notice it is close to your house!!!

Xela ~ I love pampas grass and am going to check and see if they grow well in my area. We had them growing up and Mother would cut some and stick them in water with food color to decorate for whatever season she needed, and it only took a couple days for the tops to be colored. They sure do add to decor.

That's what I did a couple of weeks ago; set fire to it. My Pampass was huge & I wanted to divide & move it. When the old growth had burned off it went out then we lifted it, divided it & cut back the foliage to give that roots a better chance. Now I have 2 smaller plants which are doing fine & will soon be grown as big as before I'm sure.

Well, I know Paul has pyrotechnic tendancies ( he was sending burning newspaper up his flue this morning to deter the jackdaws from nesting in his chimney) but he was not impressed with setting fire to his pampas instead of raking and combing it when I suggested it might be an easier way of achieving the desired effect ..... not sure the reaction will be polite if I suggest your alternative either :-D
Ah well, that's life!
Many thanks for your advice.

Hi Xela depends how brave you are.Used to work on large estate and we set fire to them,the new green leaf is impervious to fire and this process mimicks how they are naturally contained by grass fires. By stuffing paper in the centre and lighting it this quickly burns the old sheath if worried by this have a bucket of water handy but it wont burn for long.Alternatively you can dig around perimetre of plant and remove this years growth.

Looks very good. Mine went completely brown and dead in the severe weather we had in Jan/Feb this winter. I cut all the dead stuff down and am now waiting to see whether any new growth appears.

Nice job Xela

I like your bay window.

By golly - I am NOT looking forward to tackling this job!

Funnily enough, Chris Beardshaw says in the March Gardeners World comic: "Some gardeners suggest setting fire to the crown of the plant to save pruning, but I don't recommend this as young shoots are likely to be damaged." He confirms that cutting back as close to the crown as possible in spring is best.

IVE HEARD THAT IF YOU CAN ACTUALLY CUT IT RIGHT BACK TO BASE THEN (BELIEVE IT OR NOT ,ACTUALLY BURN IT WITH A BLOW TORCH TIL CHARRED AND BLACK ,THAT THIS ACTUALLY STIMULATES GROWTH) NEVER TRIED IT THOUGH SO DONT TAKE MY WORD .

:) I think it looks good as i is Sprizthenry

Good idea Andrew, if you can handle one ! :O)

If you could borrow a scythe, that would probably be the best tool for a brutal chop

Barbara, as you probably know most grasses look good throughout the winter, so in my opinion, it's best to do any cutting back between now and early March. As Darryluk says, you can cut pampas back as hard as you like, but with a mature clump such as yours, not always an easy task. I would probably cut it back anywhere between 2-3 feet from the ground.

When you say the end of the season, when is that? I don't think I could get into it to cut it back to the ground, if that's what you are saying. It is HUGE! my RHS book says to cut off the flowering stems and to cut and comb out the dead leaves in late winter/early spring I haven't dived in to cut off the flowers as yet, I was too exhausted!

These can be cut back very hard at the end of the season,be brutal.Other than that feed with 4 to 6 ounces of Growmore round the base.

RHS book says 'Fully hardy to frost hardy', The one most frequently found over here is Cortaderia selloana as well and it has three 'frost' stars, meaning that it is fully hardy. No pests or diseases are mentioned, either. Some leaves do die each year - I have to 'comb' mine out with my husband's gauntlets on soon! Sorry I have no more suggestions or info to offer, Chris.

Not the nicest job in the garden! Long sleeves, gloves, chainmail if you can get it ;o )