Liriope in Bloom
From Wikipedia
It was a warm sunny day here in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The wild birds were busy ignoring all the bargain seeds I sprinkled around to ward off avian starvation. The big snow is gone but the seeds are still here. I checked. “Ungrateful little critters,” I muttered.
My, what a wonderful day though, with the warm sun urging me to stay outdoors. This is a first chance to think about springtime cleanup chores. What needs doing?
- · The voles or moles have been busy on our grassy lawn which is now full of holes.
- · And things need trimming and hauling and raking and cutting.
- · The old yellow jacket nest that a raccoon dug out of the ground is still a gaping hole and needs filling.
- · Oh no, one of our Azaleas looks dead.
- · Did I really forget to rake all those leaves by the back door?
- · Maybe I should have stayed inside and enjoyed the sun through the windows.
But the real reason I went out in the first place was to work on our Liriope bed.
The February issue of Southern Living magazine insists I should be out now in February (which is almost over), “grooming” the Liriope.
Liriope is a grassy looking plant with long leaves, normally quite hardy and of course it would have to be quite hardy to survive our benign neglect. The formal definition is: One of several plants belonging to the genus Liriope, of the lily family, having tufted, grasslike leaves and clusters of small bluish or white flowers.
Anyway,
According to Southern Living February 2014:
“Is your Liriope (monkey grass) looking ragged?
Then use pruners, a string trimmer, or your lawn mower to cut it to
an inch tall now to make way for fresh foliage.
Don’t wait.
If you cut the tips of the new leaves,
they’ll keep their cut ends for the rest of the year.”
Oh no, a cut-ended border would not look good for the rest of the year! Heeding the magazine’s sage advice and laden down with shears, garden gloves and a determination to be a better gardener, I approached our winter weary bed of Liriope.
At first I couldn’t find it.
Could I have forgotten where it was planted?
But thankfully, there it was and much to my dismay (or relief), the little plants were already groomed and pruned (looking a little sad and weedy) to an inch above the ground!
It has been a tough winter for the deer here too. I heard that no acorns have fallen from the trees this year and so the deer are hungry. The brutal cold and a heavy snow didn’t help much either so they made a salad of my Liriope!
Normally this might have been upsetting. It’s hard enough to keep things thriving around here when the deer keep dining on anything with a green tinge.
For instance, there is a tall leafless evergreen bush near the front of our house. It is barren of leaves except for the top part where the deer can no longer reach high enough to graze. That poor old naked bush has a slightly shocked denuded look as if to say, “I’m cold! Why the x&%#/* did you let this happen?”
But back to the Liriope, I am not angry at the little “dears” since they are so lovely and they really are hungry and in this case they have done my pruning for me. When Spring has finally sprung and the new Liriope shoots come up with the desired pointy ended leaves I will rejoice for the care they received from our marauding deer.
Meanwhile I am stocking up on deer repellent.
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I like to think my garden is charmed. Some things actually grow and flourish in spite of harsh sun, drought, flooding rains and winds, all encompassing weeds, and benign neglect.
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