Re: Liriope & ophiopogon

>Date: Tue, 01 Dec 1998 06:00:57 -0800
>From: "Diana L. Politika" <diana@olympus.net>
>Subject: Liriope & ophiopogon
>
>Lily Turf and Mondo Grass for the linguistically challanged among
>you....
>I have these two plants in the GH, going on a year now.  The soil is
>acid-ish, moisture is constant and lighting is shaded with other plants
>in full sun as a trial.  temperatures are natural, in that I'm not
>heating this GH.
>Waaaaa....they simply won't grow.  And they won't die, either. 
>Information about them is scarce, so I don't know if they simply don't
>like our cooler temps (my suspicion) or if I'm truely doing something
>wrong.
>I've heard that they grow wonderfully as ground covers in the east.
>ANY info would be appreciated.
>- -- 
>The Greenhouse Nursery
>81 S. Bagley Creek Road & Hwy 101
>Port Angeles, WA  98362
>(360) 417-2664
>Zone 8 
>

Hi Diana,
 I've had to skip the list for more than a month due to a new job, but I
was reading todays digest and thought I might be able to offer a little help.
 Both of these are heat lovers AFAIK. Some are great spreaders and some are
as shy as you can get.

 Silver Dragon Liriope is a real non performer compared to most others, but
it's absolutely pure grey white and green. Well worth having the patience
of Job while you wait 3-4 years for it to double in size.
 It's been mostly replaced by 'Aztec grass' in the trade due to easy
spreading. Silver Dragon only goes to 7-8" while Aztec grass can top out
about 1.4 feet. They have very different 'looks' in the garden.

 Most of the other liriopes will depend on their type. L.spicata is the
runniing form and will do that with very little proding. It will form a
very thick and attractive groundcover over time.
 L.muscari is the clumping form and takes a little longer to increase in
size. It works best (and is generally heavily overused) as individual
clumps in a row, leading down the driveway, along the path, etc.

 The vareagated mondo grass is as slow as Silver Dragon, but very pretty.
The other mondo grasses will eventually spread around and create a nice
thick carpet.
Matt Trahan  <matttrahan@ecsu.campus.mci.net> or <garden@juno.com>
USDA zone 8, AHS heat zone 7, Sunset zone 31, northeastern N.C.

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