Question for over wintering Purple Fountain Grass
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Hi everyone, I have a fetish for purple fountain grass and would love to have it in my yard. I'm in Northern California zone 9 and I've seen them in people yards but I lost the three I had potted last winter. We are doing MAJOR home/yard reconstruction and our yard is a disaster so we're not landscaping yet but I'm using pots to make things presentable till we start doing the yard. I bought a few more this year and again have them potted up but I'm wondering if I need to bring them into the garage at least or what. I dont want to lose them again.
4 answers
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Purple fountain grass is actually a perennial in your zone so you should be able to overwinter them. My question for you since you lost the ones last winter is if you continued to water them? You do not have to water frequently as you do in summer. If it is going to a very cold night I would bring them in the garage to be safe but otherwise I would gather up all the pots together in a spot where you remember to water them over the winter. Good luck. I also want to add that even if it looks dead do not give up. Sometimes grasses are very late in getting started in spring and I have made that mistake thinking a grass was dead to find it growing in my "might be dead pile".
The Garden Frog with C Renee
on Oct 17, 2013
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To C Renee's very good advice I would add that if you just have them in plastic nursery pots, they are providing almost no protection for the plant's root system.
Douglas Hunt
on Oct 18, 2013
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Thanks guys. I was watering consistently as I also had pansies in the pot with them. They did very well. Here is a picture of the pots (and my dead plants), and one of my pots after they had died back with my pansies in their full glory. The pots ARE plastic. I was hoping they were just getting a slow start but they never came back. So, I havent put anything back in the pots yet. I had them on the East side of my house on our patio where we get the most of our sun. When it's warm, it's actually one of the warmest places arount the house. But I also think it might get pretty cold there as well. There is almost no protection out there, but because of the way the house is situated I was using the pots as a bit of a screen from the street for privacy.
Felica Tortorici
on Oct 18, 2013
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Thanks Douglas. I think I have a spot for them for the winter where they wont be in the wide open. Plus they will be clustered together so no chance of forgetting to water any of them.
Felica Tortorici
on Oct 19, 2013
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