Category Archives: gardening

Muhly Grass – Muhlenbergia capillaris or filipes

Muhly Grass

Muhly Grass

I planted Muhly Grass recently for its interesting pink mist fall flowers and reputation for indestructibility. The Grass started blooming nearly as soon as I planted it in September and has been slowly filling out with misty pink plumes. This is an interesting grass – it grows as far north as Massachusetts west to Kansas and south to Florida. A huge range, at least 5 USDA hardiness zones, apparently with a native habitat on the edges of marshes. I found in previous attempts that it is virtually impossible to grow in heavy clay soil. So, it should be really happy in my front yard atop a sand dune.

I am getting a feeling I might have to water it a bit. Plants that are designated drought tolerant with conditions usually are not as drought tolerant as you would like.

Another common name for this is Sweetgrass, supposedly when dried it has a sweet fragrance like hay. I haven’t noticed the smell, but I haven’t dried any either. I think I prefer the Sweetgrass name to Muhly Grass. Muhly sounds like beer or something. Muhly Ale?!

This grass is the source of material for basketry by the Seminole Indians in Florida and the famous Sweetgrass baskets of the Low Country of South Carolina. The Low Country basketry tradition was started by slaves from West Africa imported to the American South to work in the rice plantations in the 1800s. The tradition continues and to this day sweetgrass baskets are made and sold in the Low Country. The grass is sewn in ropes, then coiled to make a basket – a time consuming task that produces a beautiful basket.

According to the Seminole tribe website they started making sweetgrass baskets 60 years ago. Their baskets are based on grass from the Everglades, which is dried and constructed in a similar way to the Low Country baskets.

Given that I now possess a mass of Muhly I might try a basket. I suspect this is a lot harder than I think it is.. and my backyard has been blessed with an overabundance of Muscadines (a native grape) – the local wildlife population eats all the fruit, but I have such a large amount of grapevine I may take up basketweaving or wreathmaking..

Mother in Laws Tongue – Sansevieria

Mother In Laws Tongue Flower

Mother In Laws Tongue Flower

My mother in law didn’t have a a particularly sharp tongue. Well, maybe a little sharp. My Florida yard is blessed with an abundance of these plants. It still seems unreal to me to be nearly overrun by- well, houseplants.

The only way to describe the Mother In Law’s Tongue in my yard is a plethora. Or a Boatload. I am suspicious someone brought a houseplant from Michigan in 1964 and unleashed this unholy plant on my garden. The Florida gardening books consider this plant escaped and invasive.

I am certain I cannot rid my yard of this without total annihilation of everything so I have decided to live with it. I was surprised over the weekend to see that these plants flower. And are kind of pretty. On the flip side, this flower probably produces a quarter of a million seeds per stalk. I have ended up with at least 100 linear feet of edging of MILT about 5 feet deep. The only thing that keeps it in bounds is frequent mowing with the lawn mower.

The Mass of Mother In Law Tongues

The Mass of Mother In Law Tongues

If I step back and squint the plants have an interesting texture and a nice green color. An added bonus-extreme drought resistance. I just have to keep reminding myself of these good features.

More fun from the tropics…

Garden Paradise

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I think the ancient Persians were the original purveyors of the term paradise. It translates to something along the lines of walled enclosure. I agree that a walled enclosure can be a garden paradise, but I find my idea of garden paradise has changed over time.

My first garden was about 100 square feet behind an urban townhouse my husband and I had when we first married. My husband had bought the townhouse when he was single. The garden consisted of a 8 x 8 foot slab of concrete with a telephone pole in the middle and dirt around the sides; he used it as motorcycle parking. There were french doors that looked out on this not very scenic view.

I built a garage for the motorcycle incorporating the telephone pole, bricked the slab of concrete and put 2 tree form roses in big pots at the back of the space…paradise found. Unfortunately, the tree roses only looked beautiful maybe two months out of the year. But those two months were spectacular. This also cured my desire to grow roses for the most part. The townhouse was sold and we moved to the suburbs for space and quiet.

My next garden was more ambitious a – 1/3 acre suburban lot with a vegetable parterre, water garden, a waterfall and perennial beds. I enjoyed creating the garden, but, after 17 years, it was just too much work. The couple who bought the house were 10 or 15 years younger, had 5 kids were excited about the garden and planned to add a pizza oven.  Paradise found and lost again..

The Vegetable Parterre

The Vegetable Parterre

The Vegetable Parterre was another one of those things that looked great two months out of the year – but had the added bonus of providing vegetables and herbs. Eventually the parterre disappeared and it was mostly a kitchen garden with herbs.

The Fish Pond

The Fish Pond

I enjoyed the fish pond for a number of years, but it leaked, and leaked and I fixed it and fixed it…this cured me of water features, in the ground anyway.

My current garden paradise is a work in progress. My goal is more hardscape, more perennials and less maintenance. Still working on it…

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