A little change

I've got a little problem spot in my garden. (Yep, just one -- the rest is perfect , cough cough) It's this Panicum 'Heavy Metal':

Since the bamboo next to it has grown up this grass doesn't get enough sunlight, so tends to be floppy and weak. So it's time to dig it up!

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As you may be able to see, there are a few other problems here. Weeds like wild strawberry:

Chasmanthium latifolium is here too:

Although I removed most of it from this area a couple years ago, once the switchgrass emerges it's possible for Chasmanthium seedlings to hide, flower, and drop seed -- so I'm always battling this plant here.

There are some tree saplings:

Plus a stray bamboo shoot or two:

Yep, I knew there was a at least one bamboo rhizome under here!

I'll be able to take care of all of those little things once the grass comes out, so let's get started. The plant is just starting to wake up:

So it's perfect time to dig:

Panicum has deep roots, so you're not going to be able to just yank it out -- but that's pretty standard with ornamental grasses. They'll take some effort to get out. This one required the pry bar, and I took out chunks as opposed to trying to get the whole thing out in one piece. I don't think that would have been possible.

Plus I don't really know what I'm going to do with this plant -- I'm certainly not going to just transplant it to another spot in the yard. I've given away some divisions already (to a local reader of my blog -- yahoo!), but will pot up the rest:

Now what to do with a big ugly hole?

Mulch over it!

Still fairly ugly. How about adding some potted plants?

Nice! I like the fact that it gets some of the pots off the driveway too -- I need this room for potting up elephant ears, papyrus, and all of the other non-hardy plants that overwintered in the garage. (I'm going to work really hard to get most of the pots off the driveway early this year!)


Do you have any problem areas in your garden that you've tackled recently, or are planning on tackling once spring actually arrives?

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