Plant of the week: Pink muhly grass
Muhlenbergia capillaris
Don't plant pink muhly grass near the street unless you are willing to put up with traffic jams as people slow down to gawk, take photos or ring your doorbell demanding to know the name of that beautiful plant in your front yard.
Pink muhly is also known as hair grass, gulf muhly and hair-awn muhly. In mid- to late-summer, muhly displays a misty, purple/pink inflorescence, providing color, structure and a soft texture for six to eight weeks.
This clumping grass can grow to 3 feet tall and just as wide. It does best in full sun but will tolerate light shade. It will also tolerate a wide variety of soil types, as well as moderate drought and salt spray.
Garden Q&A
Any new ideas for keeping deer off my plants?
Recent research shows that fertilized plants are more palatable to deer than unfertilized plants. This principle applies to plants regardless of how attractive they naturally are to deer.
When offered two of the exact same species and variety side by side, the deer will go for the fertilized one. The fertilizer seems to make it more nutritious. Since fertilizer is not recommended for young woody plants and not necessary for established ones, skip the fertilizer and stick to compost.
I noticed a gauzy worm construction on my tree branches. The branches are too high for us to reach with a stepladder. Will the tree die?
The fall webworm, a caterpillar of our native tiger moth, has two generations a year. The spring population is largely unnoticed. The late summer-fall one is bigger.
Their web resembles that of tent caterpillars but tent caterpillars build in tree crotches (only in spring), whereas webworms build nests at branch tips.
Webworms feed inside their webs and don't carry disease. In fact, they're a food source for 75 species of predators and parasites (the good guys) who normally keep their population down.
The simplest solution is to break up low webs with a pole and let predators feast on the caterpillars. Webs also can be pruned out or removed by hand. Drown caterpillars in a bucket of soapy water.
Although webs may look unsightly for a while, they disintegrate over the winter. This late season webworm feeding should have no lasting effect on your tree, because your tree already produced plenty of energy reserves during the summer.
The Maryland Cooperative Extension's Home and Garden Information Center offers free gardening information. Call 800-342-2507 or e-mail plant and pest questions at the website at hgic.umd.edu.