Our meadow has a lot of Tufted Hair Grass, known to native plant aficionados as Deschampsia caespitosa ‘Susan’s Choice’. This grass has leaves a bit less than a foot tall, and flower stalks that reach up about 30 inches. I’ve seen it recommended as a lawn substitute, but that would mean cutting off the flower stalks, and that would be a shame since they’re beautiful when backlit by the sun in spring, covered with dew.
Deschampsia caespitosa doesn’t need much maintenance. In fact, this was it, for the entire year. Just cut off the spent stalks when they flop over and you’re done. I cut them by hand with pruners, gathering a bunch of stalks and leaves in one hand and cutting them off with the other. By cutting this way, I can maintain the domed shape of the grass where a weed whip would shear everything off flat and look less natural.
These plants are at the low point of the rain garden. Since they like regular water and don’t seem to mind being submerged for several days at a time in winter (even in heavy clay soil) the arrangement works well. The plants even seem to enjoy all that seasonal rain water and grow rapidly as soon as their leaves are once again in the air.
The Gaura lindheimeri’s spent flower stalks were also removed and added to the compost heap. All of this maintenance took about an hour, although we haven’t quite finished cutting the material for the compost heap.