Dwarf Mondo Grass Experience
 

Live in Virginia Beach, so it will grow here. Have regraded and
sloped lawn away from foundation, due basement water problems.
Gutters discharge at least 10 feet from house .
This is a 10' wide L-shaped area between deck and house.
Saw some Dwarf Mondo on a garden tour last week and the gent who was
growing it says it really forms a mat. It looked like it to me.
(As opposed to the full size which keeps coming up in my lawn and I
can't kill for love nor money)
Any experience/thoughts/recommendations would be appreciated.
TIA

Dwarf Mondo Grass Experience
 

This is a 10' wide L-shaped area between deck and house.
Saw some Dwarf Mondo on a garden tour last week and the gent who was
growing it says it really forms a mat. It looked like it to me.

If it is like the dwarf mondo grass that my neighbor has, it should.
Slow growing, though, so it might take a while to form said mat.

My garden book recommends mondo grass when growing on a smaller scale
than where you'd plant Liriope. So I don't know if the mondo grass
would look good in a 10 foot wide space.

There are also quite a few native plants which are somewhat similar
but of course that will depend on where you are (here in Washington,
DC I think of some of the smaller sedges and grasses, and "blue-eyed
grass" which is in the iris family, no doubt others).

Dwarf Mondo Grass Experience
 

On 24 Jul 2007 22:59:44 -0400, Jim Kingdon wrote:

This is a 10' wide L-shaped area between deck and house.
Saw some Dwarf Mondo on a garden tour last week and the gent who was
growing it says it really forms a mat. It looked like it to me.


My garden book recommends mondo grass when growing on a smaller scale
than where you'd plant Liriope. So I don't know if the mondo grass
would look good in a 10 foot wide space.

He did have it in a narrower space. I'm in Virginia Beach. We all
have a serious vole problem in this area. They ate the Liriope long
ago. They have not touched his dwarf Mondo.

There are also quite a few native plants which are somewhat similar
but of course that will depend on where you are (here in Washington,
DC I think of some of the smaller sedges and grasses, and "blue-eyed
grass" which is in the iris family, no doubt others).
Do you have any specific thoughts. This is part of a drainage
solution. Gutters already drain at least 10' away from house, under
the deck. Am regrading this area so that all water flows into French
drain under front edge of deck which then moves to the side and down
the lot into a lake.

Thank you for the input.

Dwarf Mondo Grass Experience
 

There are also quite a few native plants which are somewhat similar

Do you have any specific thoughts. This is part of a drainage
solution. Gutters already drain at least 10' away from house, under
the deck. Am regrading this area so that all water flows into French
drain under front edge of deck which then moves to the side and down
the lot into a lake.

So the plant is for the "down the lot" area, and you want a plant
which likes wet soil? Before I get to that, there's the issue of
preventing the water flow from washing out that whole area (especially
while the plants get established). Don't know if that's going to be a
big issue for your setup, but if it is there is the bio-log (coconut
fiber wrapped in rope). You put them cross-wise to the slope, and
they should give the plants plenty of time to establish.

I'm sort of assuming you want something low to the ground like the
Mondo you mention. If something taller (cattails, New York ironweed,
etc) would be appealing, you have lots more choices. Or even
short-ish but non-grass-like plants.

The Blue-Eyed Grass I mentioned is Sisyrinchium angustifolium (the web
site below says dry to moist soils, and sun to part shade). There's
also a taller Sisyrinchium atlanticum which is moist to wet soils and
full sun.

As for grasses and sedges, I don't know those very well (yet), but a
few short ones a
Carex pensylvanica (part to full shade, dry to moist)
Carex glaucodea, blue wood sedge (part to full shade, dry to moist)

I'm browsing these at http://www.nps.gov/plants/pubs/chesapeake/ so if
you go there you'll know almost as much as I do.

As for where to buy native plants in Virginia, a couple worth
mentioning are http://www.nature-by-design.com/index2.html (DC area)
and http://www.hylabrookfarm.com/ (a bit closer to you, although not
really). Some of these plants might be in some of the more
conventional garden centers too, but I don't know Virginia Beach that
way. Many will ship by mail.

I'm not sure if this helps. I don't know what your voles would eat
(and trial and error might be needed on that one).