Friday, February 19, 2010

Black Mondo Grass..

In a previous post, I mentioned finding a beautiful blue pot on clearance and a very cool black plant that I had wanted for some time on sale. Well, within a matter of days, I actually had planted the very cool black plant in the beautiful blue pot. I think that may have been a record for me.




The thing that the beautiful blue pot lacked was an appropriate saucer. I knew it needed to be something special; maybe a little out of the ordinary. A few weeks ago, I found it. On sale. I think a square saucer is a little out of the ordinary. Don't you? Aren't, by definition, saucers round? The clerk told me that many people used them for bird feeders, but I assured her that mine was to be a saucer.




When I first bought the pot and plant, I was thinking of planting Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea' (Creeping Jenny) with the Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens' (Black Mondo Grass), but then I decided that maybe that wasn't such a good idea even though they would look well together. The Black Mondo Grass is a slow grower and the Creeping Jenny borders on being invasive. In the spring, I am going to use a trick I figured out in California. I plan to plant a couple of the bright pink/magenta-colored Impatiens walleriana, which are annuals, with the black grass. The grass likes moisture and so do the Impatiens. The Impatians start to wilt when they need water, sounding a warning bell. They will remind me to water the pot so I don't loose my long-desired Black Mondo Grass. And they will look pretty. Which is very important.


Have a beautiful day!

5 comments:

Rihane said...

Me too love that plant and the colorcombination with the blue is very nice.

Anonymous said...

What a clever idea for making sure the grass stays properly watered!! And impatiens are very pretty. :)

~ K ~

Ruth said...

Rihane and K -

Thank you for your comments! It's nice to share with others who enjoy the same things! :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Ruth,

If you like Mondo grass, I feel even greater affinity with you now. Did you know David Unfried in CA? I used to groom the mondo grass when I worked on his area of the campus. I began my love for gardening with my father, but Dave
heightened it.

I am sorry if I haven't been remembering to sign my posts every time; hopefully you will be able to tell if it's me when I don't.
-Janice

Ruth said...

Hi, Janice, If you don't leave your name or initials, I don't know if it is you when you are using "Anonymous."

Not only did I know Dave Unfried, I worked for him, too! I remember grooming the mondo grass. He said that the best thing for getting the leaves out of the mondo grass was not the mondo grass rake, but the human hand! :) He was a good man.