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Great Plants this Month Winter

Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’ AGM

eulalia ‘Morning Light’

pic of louise sims
Louise Sims

The plumes are palish pink – very pretty if you’re lucky enough to get them! That doesn’t sound like much of an endorsement does it? So, it seems odd to be recommending a grass that in most years fails to produce a single flower, and even after this year’s hot summer spell, we had none; but I hardly noticed their absence, for that’s not why we grow it.

This statuesque, clump-forming grass grows to 1.2 – 1.5 metres. Its habit is upright, like a fountain, and the very narrow mid-green leaves are finely edged with white and they are well-spaced. As the season progresses, it remains neat and elegant.

It’s quite hard to pinpoint exactly its attraction, but a few days ago after a sharp frost, I wandered round the garden early one morning and noticed that the foliage of ‘Morning Light’, which has by now faded to a pale sandy colour, had become more chiselled, almost like fine shavings – the clump now looks more like a piece of sculpture than a plant. 

This is a grass that definitely earns its keep throughout the winter – right up until late March when it will be time to cut the stems down to within a few inches of the ground. It’s quite hard work, but you could chop up the old stems as you go and leave them as mulch thereby killing two birds with one stone.

NB Louise has published a beautifully produced book of her plant profiles – A Plant for Every Week of the Year. It costs £9.99 inc P & P and is for sale in our online shop here.

More NB If you’d like a bit more gardening chitchat from the3growbags, please type your email address here and we’ll send you a new post every Saturday morning.

By the3growbags

We're three sisters who love gardening, plants and even the science of horticulture but we're not all experts. We'd love everyone even remotely interested in their gardens to be part of our blogsite.

2 replies on “Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’ AGM”

I swapped lawn for oodles of grasses and flowers a couple of years ago and I’ve planted a few miscanthus morning light this year. I’m hoping they’ll do well. I love to see grasses in the winter, so beautiful when they sparkle on a frosty, sunny morning 🙂

Cheryl you are so right – they look just as good in the winter as they do in summer don’t they. Caroline here, in Scotland, and I’ve got an appointment to see visit Binny Plants in West Lothian as soon as is possible to buy Calamagarostis ‘Karl Foerster’. I was very disappointed to get an email to say the nursery from which I ordered Chionochloa conspica has in fact sold out, but oh well, it gave me a few weeks of excited anticipation! Definitely adding Miscanthus ‘Morning Light’ to my list! Take care and thank you so much for commenting XX

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