Trimming ornamental grasses is one of the few pruning tasks that I consider mandatory. Failing to cut them back in late fall or early spring can lead to last year's growth suffocating the new grass as it tries to emerge in the following season.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Okay, so we're going to talk about cutting back ornamental grasses. This is something that you have to do every year. If you don't come back the dead stuff on top, it's going to choke out the new grass that comes from the base of the plant in the early spring. Now, there are two times of the year that you can cut it back.

You can cut it back in the late fall, which is October, November, or you can cut it back in the early spring. But you just have to make sure that it gets cut back probably, you know, mid April at the latest. to make sure that that new grass has a chance to come up.

Now some people like to leave their grass up during the fall because you've got these beautiful seed heads that feed the birds and wildlife during the winter season, or you can just cut it straight down to the ground right now. That's what I like to do because I live in an area that gets a ton of snow, so eventually this would all get crushed down, freeze to the ground, and that it's a mess in this spring. It's not the end of the world but it's just something that I prefer and I want to stress that you can go either way.

Okay, so there are two tools that you can use. I have a lot of ornamental grasses so I prefer to use hedge trimmers. This is really the only thing I use hedge trimmers for.

How far do you cut down? Just as close to the ground as you can get. Doesn't have to be surgical. It doesn't have to be flush with the ground. I always tell my clients, you know, maybe like three to four inches above the ground. You could even go as far as six, but the closer the better.