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Have you ever visited somewhere else with a slightly different climate or soil type and noticed a different style of landscaping or a different collection of plants that filled those landscapes? If so, perhaps you left wondering why we don’t grow those same plants at home or whether we could if we tried. North Carolina is proud to be home to both mountains and beaches, which means we don’t have far to go in either direction to encounter new worlds of plants. Perhaps you’ve spent some time at the beach, in which case you’ve no doubt encountered Sea oats, Uniola paniculata, a long-lived native warm-season grass used for dune stabilization. Plants grow 6 feet tall by 2 feet wide, and produce a panicle inflorescence that gives way to flat tan seedheads. 
Top photo: Sea oats are grown at the beach for dune stabilization. Middle row, left: The seed head has long slender foliage attached to stiff stems. Seed heads emerge green in spring, turn tan in summer, and purple in fall. Photo: K. Schultz, CC BY 2.0 Middle row, right: Seed head in late summer, as it begins to turn color. Photo: Klasse im Garten, CC BY 2.0 Lower row, left: Leaves and fruit. Photo: J. Robbins, CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 Lower right: Sea oats are a clump-forming type of grass that spreads by both seeds and rhizomes. Photo: J. Robbins, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 While you won’t see this plant much outside of its typical coastal usage, there is an alternative that, while not especially common, is a little better suited for usage throughout the rest of our state. This alternative is Northern Sea Oats, Chasmanthium latifolium, also known as River Oats, Inland Sea Oats, or Indian Wild Oats. Northern Sea Oats is a native herbaceous perennial grass, found from Central Canada, throughout the Central and Eastern United States, and Northeast Mexico, and it was named the 1994 NC Wildflower of the Year by the North Carolina Botanical Garden.
Northen Sea Oats grows to about 5 feet tall, with long slender foliage attached to stiff stems that sway in the breeze. Panicle-type flowers bloom from June to October, and form flattened seed heads that change from green to tan to purple as they mature from July through November. While a bit unconventional looking, the appearance of a mass of these seedheads is both interesting and attractive, and fits well in wildflower or natural garden plantings. It is also a good fit in plantings near bodies of water or in rain gardens. Northern Sea Oats is a clump-forming type of grass. It spreads by both seeds and rhizomes, and some may consider it weedy due to its propensity to spread. However, as long as you provide adequate space for it to spread, it shouldn’t be problematic. As a native, it is useful in attracting and feeding a variety of butterflies, birds, and small mammals, though deer tend to leave it alone. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705.
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Asters, mums, and goldenrod rightfully get a lot of the attention, but they are far from the only fall-blooming perennial flower to be celebrated in fall gardens. One that I’m particularly fond of that doesn’t get a whole lot of recognition is Conoclinium coelestinum, Blue Mistflower. A native perennial wildflower found throughout the East Coast from Canada to Georgia, Blue Mistflower has a long bloom period, starting in mid- to late summer and lasting until the first hard frost of fall. While not part of the Aster genus Symphyotrichum, it is part of the Asteraceae, or Daisy, family, and thus shares some similarities with true asters. Mistflowers’ blooms are not the classic daisy shape one might expect from this family of plants, rather, the individual blooms are a fuzzy flat disc lacking the rays of a daisy. Flowers are a light shade of blue – baby blue, Carolina blue, sky blue, call it whichever you wish. This plant is sometimes called hardy ageratum, due to the visual similarity of its flowers to the annual ageratum. 
This native wildflower spreads by both rhizome and seed, and can become somewhat weedy if left unchecked. We have it growing in the Pitt County Arboretum in both the Butterfly Garden and Wildflower Garden, and with some occasional thinning it is relatively well-behaved. It is typically found growing along roadsides and in moist ditch banks, which shows the range of tolerance it has for different levels of soil moisture. It will tolerate a bit of shade, but flowers best in full sun. Bees, butterflies, and other pollinators enjoy the nectar-rich flowers and this plant is often included in pollinator-themed gardens for that reason. If you are growing blue mistflower in hopes of supporting pollinators, you may have better results in average to moist soils rather than dry ones. Plants will grow 18-36 inches tall and wide.
Gardeners may occasionally encounter another species of mistflower, Conoclinium greggii, which is quite similar in a number of ways from size to flower color. This species is native to the Southeastern United States. As you might expect based on that fact it is slightly less cold hardy, C. greggii will still likely function as a perennial in Eastern NC, but C. coelestinum is a better choice for our gardens under most circumstances. Both species are relatively pest free, with the only real problems of note being an occasional minor infestation of aphids or powdery mildew. It’s a great plant to add late season color in pollinator gardens, native plant collections, water gardens, or natural areas. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. It’s not often that a single bloom on one plant in a garden becomes a newsworthy event; however, there is one notable exception that seems to pop up once in a while. Perhaps you’ve heard of the Corpse Flower, or titan arum, a unique plant native to Southeast Asia known for both the enormous size of its singular flower and the incredible pungency produced by that bloom. Corpse Flower, known botanically as Amorphophallus titanium, is the kind of plant you typically only see in botanical gardens, arboreta, university greenhouses, or other public-garden spaces. Any garden that has a corpse flower is happy to show it off on the rare occasion of its bloom, which may only happen once every 7 to 10 years, and last for as little as 36 hours. Long lines of people will wait for a chance to see and smell this rare flower that is as large or larger than they are, and some watch on live internet streams as the gigantic blossom slowly opens. This is not the type of plant that an average, or even above-average gardener can grow in their backyard for a few reasons. First, this plant is not cold hardy in our area. Secondly, it needs pretty meticulous and specialized care to survive and thrive. There are, however, more accessible Amorphophallus relatives that offer some of the same interesting characteristics and conversation-starting curiosity. You might be reading this and silently asking yourself why you would want a stinky flower in your yard. You may not, but not all gardeners like solely the knock-your-socks off, traditionally pretty plants. Some of us like the weird stuff, too. Maybe you’re always looking for the next unusual plant to add to the garden, or perhaps you are a Halloween enthusiast and want something ‘spooky’ to plant this fall. This could be just what you’re looking for.
top. Photo: C. DeWitt, CC BY 4.0 Top right: Flower, close up. The central, phallic-like stalk is called a spadix. Photo: J. Celinski Bottom left: The stem has an intricate snakelike pattern. Photo: C. DeWitt, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Bottom right: Berries from the pollinated flowers ripen from bright pink to blue. Photo: C. DeWitt, CC BY 4.0 Amorphophallus kiusianis, known as Voodoo Lily, is sort of like a miniature version of the corpse flower, growing 2-4 tall and 1-3 feet wide. It produces a similar vase-shaped inflorescence called a spath, with a central phallic-like stalk called a spadix. The flowers are purplish-brown, with some white in pink buried inside, and while they are not as powerful as the larger Amorphophallus, the Voodoo Lily shares the same type of unpleasant odor. However, the blooms only last about a day. The foliage is actually quite attractive, with a long, slender petiole that emerges from the ground, spotted in a snakeskin-like pattern, with an umbrella-like leaf that unfolds at the top. If you’ve got a shady area and are bored with hosta, ferns, and Solomon’s seal (all great plants, don’t get me wrong), Voodoo Lily is something different that you can mix in to keep things interesting.
Voodoo Lily grows from a corm, an underground bulb-like growth structure. They are hardy and can be kept outdoors overwinter under the right conditions, but the corms can also be dug up and stored indoors and replanted the following spring. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. Hot on the heels of the fragrant Tea Olive, the last featured plant, is another sweet-smelling fall bloomer, the Ginger Lily. Known botanically as Hedychium coronarium, Ginger lily is a tropical herbaceous perennial in the ginger family. Unlike its culinary relative Zingiber officinale, Ginger lily is grown primarily for its aesthetic characteristics in the landscape rather than its edible value. Ginger lily typically grows to a height of 3-6 feet tall, with a width of 2-3 feet. Its lush foliage generates a tropical vibe in gardens where it is planted, and thus it pairs well with plants such as cannas, hardy bananas, and elephant ears. Ginger lilies do best when planted in moist, well-drained soils in full sun to dappled shade. Leaves are long and slender, and are arranged alternately on long thick stalks. Each stem almost resembles a corn stalk, and the sum total of multiple stems growing together in a clump produces a plant that it is roughly the size of a medium shrub, though composed of entirely herbaceous, non-woody parts. 
In late summer through fall, ginger lilies begin to bloom, and it is during this time that they really draw the attention of gardeners. The individual florets emerge from a florescent spike, gradually opening from the bottom to the top, over a period of several weeks to several months. The individual floret may only last a day or two, but flowering continues with new florets emerging continuously through the bloom period. Flowers are attractive; they are both colorful and uniquely shaped. Standard bloom color is white, but many cultivars have colors ranging from yellow, to orange, pink, and red. Ginger lily is sometimes referred to as butterfly ginger, a reference to the flowers, which resemble a butterfly with its wings spread. In addition to their visual impact, ginger lilies are powerfully fragrant, producing a sweet, floral aroma frequently described as heavenly. Though not typically grown for its culinary properties, the rhizomes are edible, and spicy, just like its cousin Zingiber, and can be used similarly in the kitchen. Ginger lilies can tolerate a bit of extra moisture on occasion during the warmer months of spring and summer, but dislike being wet during the colder months of the year, a characteristic shared with many other plants that grown from bulbs, rhizomes, or tubers, including the aforementioned elephant ear. They are perennial plants, hardy to zone 7a. However, if you can’t ensure an adequately drained soil during the winter, tubers can be dug up and stored indoors before being set in the ground outdoors the following spring. If doing so, store surrounded by a loose covering of peat or vermiculite in a cool, dark, and dry location. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. I enjoy my job for many reasons. Each day is a little different. I am always learning new things and get to share that knowledge with others, and the satisfaction of helping others by answering their questions or assisting them in their quest to solve a problem is tremendously gratifying. Yet on some days, the reason why I love my job is much simpler. For the past three weeks or so, one of the best things about my job is the scent I inhale, each and every time I walk in and out of my door. The plant responsible for this delightfully sweet aroma is one I’ve written about before, and though I try not to repeat myself in this column, I’m just going to have to break that rule this week. It’s not just me. We’ve had a number of visitors to the building come inside or corral staff members outside to ask which plant is responsible for the fragrance. The plant in question is Osmanthus fragrans, commonly known as Fragrant Tea Olive or Sweet Osmanthus. Now, normally when a plant stops you in your tracks or inspires such wonder, it’s due to something visual- jaw-droppingly beautiful flowers, strange or unique foliage, or some other aesthetic trait. Osmanthus, however, is one of the most average, non-descript shrubs we use in our landscapes. It’s a broadleaf evergreen with slightly glossy leaves that would be hard for the average gardener to distinguish from at least half a dozen other shrubs that share similar traits. Even the flowers are barely noticeable, visually, as the individual blooms are each less than an inch wide and tucked into the leaf axils on interior branches. That is not to say it’s an unattractive plant. It’s perfectly fine in its averageness. It is, however, the kind of plant you barely notice until someone points out to you that it is responsible for the glorious aroma you’ve been trying to identify.
So how do you use a plant like Osmanthus in the landscape? As a dense broadleaf evergreen, it can be used as a tall hedge or screen in the same way plants like ligustrum, many hollies, and eleagnus often are. It can be used at the back of a perennial or mixed border garden, where it allows shorter, showier plants in front of it to shine when they are in bloom, but contributes the sensory element of fragrance when it blooms first in spring and then again in fall.
It’s important to note that there are several types of osmanthus and not all have the same scent we associate with Osmanthus fragrans. Osmanthus heterophyllus, which is a plant with sharp spiny leaves that many people mistake for a holly, has no substantial fragrance, though it is arguably more attractive than Osmanthus fragrans. If you’re searching the nursery for that overlooked plant with the fantastic smell, make sure you go home with the right Osmanthus! Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. There are certain rules we follow if we adhere to the traditional dogma of landscape design. These rules tell us what plants can be planted where, what types of plants work well in combination with each other, even what shapes, textures, and heights are most appealing. As is often the case, these rules serve as a helpful guide, but strict adherence to them can be boring or even problematic. Take for example the way edible plants have typically been incorporated into residential landscapes. Traditionally if you grew vegetables, you did so in a large rectangular shaped vegetable garden somewhere in the backyard. If you had fruit trees, or grape vines, or blueberries, they were likely similarly confined to a particular section in the backyard. However, as property sizes shrink, the trend of incorporating these plants into flower beds and mixed areas, referred to as edible landscaping, has become more common. Perhaps the natural extension of erasing the lines between where edible plants and ornamental plants is to breed ornamental versions of favorite edible plants. We’ve seen this with sweetpotato, our state vegetable. Ornamental sweetpotato cultivars have been bred to highlight the color and texture of the foliage, and these are now commonly used in containers, hanging baskets, or as groundcovers. This weekend, my wife went shopping for some fall decorations for the porch and yard, and came home with classic “fall” plants like mums and sunflowers, but also with a few different types of ornamental peppers. These plants are the same species, Capsicum annuum, as the peppers we eat, but are cultivars that have been bred specifically to enhance their ornamental characteristics (color, size, and shape of the fruit), more so than the flavor or taste.
Ornamental pepper cultivars are often more compact than the varieties we grow for food, and fruit tend to form primarily at the apex of each stem rather than along the stem and in leaf axils. These smaller plants are easy to fit in containers, or pop into the ground to fill empty spaces in sunny flower beds in late summer or fall, and the cluster of fruit at the top creates a striking visual display during a time of year where flower color in the garden begins to become sparse. The cultivar that my wife purchased is called ‘Medusa,’ which forms red, long, skinny, Cayenne-like fruit that point in all directions, resembling in full bloom the mythical character Medusa’s head of snakes. Other popular ornamental cultivars include ’Basket of Fire,’ which produces fruit in a mix of orange, yellow, and red, resembling a burst of flames, and ‘Purple Flash,’ a purple-leaved variety with small rounded fruit that are almost black.
Wherever you choose to plant your ornamental peppers, make sure they are in full sun, and have moist, well-drained soil. They can tolerate being a little on the dry side, but they don’t like being overly wet, so providing adequate drainage is very important. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. In many ways, landscapes are like blank canvases for gardeners to fill as they see fit. We use plants of all different shapes, sizes, and colors in the hopes that the result will be something pleasing to the eye. Most of us primarily use trees and shrubs, as well as flowering herbaceous plants (either annuals or perennials) to complete our landscapes. Many landscapes also make space for vines, which have a unique ability among plants to travel and stretch along structures like trellises and arbors. This growth habit leads to really interesting shapes that we wouldn’t otherwise see in our landscapes. Among vines, soft-stemmed plants like clematis, Carolina jessamine, and morning glories are fairly common, often used around mailboxes or on small trellises. Woody-stemmed plants like honeysuckle, and climbing roses are also familiar to most gardeners and are a good fit for climbing on heavy duty structures. All of these plants are lovely and fine choices for the proper situation, but if you’re a plant geek like me, you’re always looking for something a little bit different. Akebia quinata, commonly known as Five-leaf Akebia or Chocolate Vine, is just such a plant. Akebia has the distinction among vines of producing both attractive flowers and interesting fruit. Many vines have nice blooms, of course, but far fewer produce fruit worth mentioning. Akebia’s blossoms are found in small clusters early in spring, opening just shortly after the plant has finished leafing out. The color and the light fragrance of the bloom remind one of chocolate, hence its common name. The flowers are attractive, particularly from up close, but may not overwhelm you as the glossy foliage of Akebia tends to hide some of its blooms.
Top left: The blossoms appear in early spring, and have a light chocolate fragrance. Photo: Alspdake, CC BY-SA 3.0 Top right: Close-up of the palmately compound leaves. Photo: Monado, CC BY-SA 3.0 Lower left: Grown as a vine. Photo: J. Robbins, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Lower right: The purple, sausage-shaped fruit. The foliage itself is an attractive bluish green, made up of five leaflets. It emerges in the spring with just a tinge of purple in March, before fading to its usual color. It remains on the vine until about December without changing color in the fall. When grown in warmer climates, Akebia is an evergreen.
Akebia’s odd fruit are what make it truly unique among vines. Each vine produces several light-purple seed pods that reach 2 to 4 inches long. Many sources describe the fruit as sausage-shaped, though they tend to be much plumper than your average sausage, swelling as the seeds inside mature. In fall, the pods split open and reveal a pulpy white core that surrounds the numerous black seeds inside. It is an unusual sight, to say the least. Unfortunately, It should be noted that while Akebia is not listed as a noxious weed by the federal government, several states list it as an invasive weed due to its propensity to spread aggressively and reseed. The North Carolina Invasive Plant Council does list it as an invasive plant. It’s not nearly as aggressive as wisteria or English ivy, but given this, I can’t in good conscience recommend that you plant Akebia. It is, nonetheless, an interesting plant that you may encounter in public gardens and arboreta, including both of the ones that I have worked at, though I myself did not plant it in either location. While it can be a problematic plant, it is one that I will always stop and spend some time with every time I encounter it. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. Plant names have always been fascinating to me for a number of reasons. When I first started studying plants, it always seemed easier for me to remember the more outlandish botanical names than the plainer ones. I suppose this is because the more it twisted my tongue to try to pronounce an unusual name, the more frequently I’d repeat it. More recently, I spend less time thinking about how names sound, and more time thinking about what they mean and what those names tell us about the plants themselves. More often than not, a plant’s name tells us something important about where that plant is from, who discovered it, what it looks like, how it grows, and so on. What exactly that is might not always be evident on first glance, however. Let me give you an example. Suppose I’m a plant that blooms from April to October, with colorful, daisy-like flowers. I’m a low-growing, spreading perennial that loves sun and dry soil. In fact I’m a succulent, and this means that I thrive with little to no water. I’m native to Africa. What would you name me? Why, ice plant, of course! Huh? Ice plant is the common name of several species of the genus Delosperma, most notably Delosperma cooperi, and several other hybrids. Although it’s not evident why the name ice plant fits based on the description I shared, it does start to make sense on further inspection. Ice plant’s leaves are plump, fleshy green leaves with bladder-like hairs on them. These hairs reflect light in a way that makes it appear on occasion that there are crystals on the leaves. This effect can make it appear as though a layer of frost or ice glistens on the tips of the leaves. 
Lower left: It also makes a very attractive groundcover. Photo: S. Ehsani, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Lower right: Ice plant loves sun and dry soil. Make of that explanation what you will. Regardless, ice plant is an interesting addition to the landscape because it is a long-blooming, reliably hardy perennial plant that thrives in tough situations. It’s a great fit for rock gardens, the hottest and driest corners of the landscapes, on slopes or near walls and paths, or in hanging baskets and containers. Ice plant is also resistant to deer and salt.
Delosperma cooperi blooms are pinkish-purple, but there are hybrid cultivars that bloom dark purple, red, yellow, and white. It makes a colorful carpet wherever it is planted. Think of other favorite creeping perennials such as phlox, which gives a fantastic burst of color for a few weeks in early spring and then all but disappears for the rest of the year. Ice plant grows in many of the same spots, but tolerates more extreme heat and drought, and flowers for an extra four months. It may not ever replace phlox entirely, but it certainly is worthy of wider usage. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. I talk a lot in these columns and in my gardening classes about landscape plants that have various elements of aesthetic interest and about plants that are weird, unusual, or uniquely noteworthy. It goes without saying that plants that can grab your attention for one reason or another are highly valued by many gardeners. However, not every plant in the landscape has to be a star. Some plants need to just do their job, to paraphrase the legendary Bill Belichick. I covered one such plant recently in my column about mondo grass, but Podocarpus is another one of those types of plants. Perhaps it won’t knock your socks off, but it’ll do its job and usually do it well. Podocarpus macrophyllus, also known as Japanese Plum Yew, Yew Pine, Buddhist Pine, or simply Podocarpus, is a slow-growing, compact, evergreen shrub that usually grows to a height of about six feet tall. It has long slender leaves that are similar to the English yew, Taxus baccata, though Podocarpus are generally much larger. Older leaves are a deeper green color, but new growth each spring (or following each pruning) is typically a lighter green. The flowers are fairly insignificant, but they give way to an interesting fruit in late summer. The fruit are technically considered a cone, botanically speaking, with two parts: a red fleshy segment called an aril, and 1-2 greenish-yellow seeds attached to the aril. Although the aril is edible, its seeds are poisonous, so you may want to resist any temptation to sample if you happen to see the fruit in their full glory.
Where does this plant fit into our landscapes? It is very tolerant of pruning, and has a naturally slow growth rate and dense growth habit. This makes it ideal for use as a border or hedge. Think of areas where you may have seen privet or boxwood in a neatly manicured row; this is the kind of landscape usage that would be ideal for podocarpus. It prefers sun and well drained soils, but can tolerate some shade as well. It may be a good alternative to boxwood in cases where nematodes or soil pathogens have caused damage.
Though it is ideal as a hedge, podocarpus is occasionally used as a specimen plant due to its slightly unusual leaf shape and texture. It can be shaped as a topiary, and is often maintained this way when used as a specimen. It also often is grown as a houseplant. Indoors, it may have some issues with soft scale insects, but is relatively pest free in most other situations. It is tolerant to drought, salt, and deer, which may make it a good replacement for other plants that are not so lucky. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. Readers, let’s play a game. I want you to raise your hand if you have at least one large shade tree somewhere in your yard. It doesn’t matter what kind of shade tree. It could be an oak, a maple, perhaps a tulip poplar. I’m imagining there are quite a few hands raised. Now keep your hand raised if you’ve ever tried to grow grass underneath one of these shade trees. Many of you still have your hands raised. Now I want those of you who have had success growing grass directly under one of these shade trees to keep your hands raised, and anyone who hasn’t been successful can put them down. Does anyone still have their hand raised? Not many, I’d imagine. Grass simply doesn’t do well in shade. Sure, there are some types such as St. Augustine, certain varieties of Zoysia, perhaps creeping Red Fescue, that have that have a little more shade tolerance than most grass species, but even these grasses will struggle in dense shade. Yet, so many of you insist on having something green at the base of these trees rather than creating a bed of pine straw or bark mulch. If you simply must have something green in these spots, why not try Mondo Grass, Ophiopogon japonicas? Despite having grass in its name, Mondo Grass is not a true grass but rather a herbaceous broadleaf evergreen groundcover. Unlike our traditional turf grasses, Mondo Grass is not only shade tolerant but truly prefers shade, and likes moist well-drained soil. Individual plants grow to a height of about one foot high by one foot wide, and spread by runners, forming a dense mat of foliage over time. One foot high, you say? Why that’s way too tall for any grass in your yard. Don’t worry, there’s a dwarf version that grows 3 to 6 inches tall, still a bit higher than Bermuda or Centipede, but essentially in the range of all of those Fescue lawns in the Piedmont.
Mondo Grass bears some resemblance to Liriope, another grass-like plant that could be used as a turf alternative but is more often used as edging in flower beds. Liriope is often referred to by the common name Lilyturf, while Mondo Grass is sometimes called Dwarf Lilyturf. Both are members of the asparagus family, believe it or not. If shopping for either plant, be sure to double check the labels to make sure you’re buying what you want, as the similarity in name and appearance can be deceiving.
Mondo Grass produces a relatively inconspicuous flower in the summer time, a short raceme of pale pink to white that grows to 2 to 4 inches long and is often hidden in the foliage. While you may mow the rest of your lawn once a week, Mondo Grass does not need to be cut regularly, though established plants are not bothered by being mowed. If using as a turf alternative for shade, plan to mow once per year in late winter/early spring simply to remove older or dying foliage, and perhaps one or two other times if you desperately want to control its height or conceal any potential flowers. Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705. |
Matt Stevens
Pitt County Extension Director & Horticulture Agent Archives
November 2025
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