OK so it maybe a tad early in mid-spring to be dividing grasses but as we are now in drought, officially (since 5th April) I thought I’d risk it.
I manage a large grassy border which has some congested clumps and some baldy bare patches and there needs to be some balancing out I think.
I started with Stipa tenuissima, digging it out, pulling out all the dead debris and then taking my Swiss Army pruning knife to it, hacking it neatly into 4 chunks of root and stalk. then replanting immediately and watering in. Instant fix of one bald patch, enormously satisfying.
At the end of 2010 a huge Anamanthele lessoniana (Stipa Arundinaecea as was!) popped it’s cloggs and in doing so spreading a mass of, and I do mean a thousand of so, seeds which have sprouted happily into a 1m2 ‘Stipa Lawn’. Easing a clump or two out, gently separating into smaller clumps I managed to fill another bare strip with plants and give the clumpy lawn specimens some space to expand.
The grass border looks better already. The Crocosmia (12 or 15 varieties) mixed in with the grasses are coming along nicely too and bulking up incredibly well.
Next year the monster variegated Miscanthus will have it’s turn to be chopped about!