[earthing83]

Hello all, I am growing a few ornamental grasses from seed including hares tail and another feathery one that I can't remember the name of! I sowed the seed in trays and now have trays full of grass seedlings around 10 cm tall. I am not sure if I need to pot on each individual balde of grass into a 3inch pot say, or wether it's best to plant a few blades togather in a bigger pot, perhaps even where it will end up growing. Anyone have any advice? I have never grown grass befoe and the seed packet info is limited!! Thanks all

[Brambles]

I am sorry I have not any info for you......... except, that when I, some many years ago, decided to grow some beautiful grasses to soften my large garden borders, they spread like mad... I found after about three years that I had to try and dig them all out, it took forever to rid the garden of all of them.   My husband bought the seeds and planted them for me, so I have no idea what they were... but NO MORE grasses for me!   So unless someone with more grass knowledge comes and gives you some REAL advice, just go easy to start with.

[Trillium]

As Brambles indicated, verify that you've not seeded up a bunch of spreaders as they can be so invasive. If you have clumping types (the only ideal grass) then pot them up. The size they are now, if planted out, they'd only disappear or accidentally be shorn. When they're a bit larger, perhaps next year, you can plant them out with markers so any 'helpers' would know the difference.

Mondo grass, a black variety, was a huge seller at the shops here some years back, but I couldn't afford any so I waited until I could. A local centre had them for sale and I hoped to pick up a few, but was glad I first saw them in the show garden - they'd spread everywhere! Not the grass I wanted so I'm glad I held off buying it. I've also had many offers of free ribbon grass - because it spreads like wildfire! No thanks.

[campanula]

mostly, mixed packets of grass seeds are annuals - lagarus ovatus, briza maxima, which will seed around. However, the idea of potting them up for a year is a good one - you do not need to separate into individual blades of grass yet as wehen they are a bit bigger, you can quite brutally separate them - they are tough! I do grow a lot of grasses and would not be without them but they are, by and large, fairly well mannered - miscanthus, calamagrostis, molinia, festuca. The worst one IMO, is Blue Lyme Grass (elymus arenaria) - a kind of supercharged couch. Fabulaous blue leaves but avoid! If you are keen on blue leaves, there are much better behaved ones. In fact, my worst weed is the annual meadow grass (poa) and wild oats.
The best easy grasses are stipa tenuissima and stipa gigantea, also festucas. These are evergreen and will just need a de-thatching every year.

[catllar]

I've got stipa tenuissima and it certainly adds movement to a planting scheme, but  it seeds like mad and will take over the world if it can. You have to be ruthless weeding out the youngsters and I cut mine back hard each spring after I've dethatched it. They have regrown in about 10 days and look much better (IMHO) for this vivious scalping.

[earthing83]

Many thanks for the advice everyone. I think I will pot up the single blades, many together in containers to keep them contained for a while! I just wasn't too sure how many single seedlings should go in one pot.

[Flowerpower136]

Depending on how many you've got, could be a fiddle of a job!  Wouldn't be the end of the world if you put more than 1 in each pot. But yes, each of those seedling blades has the potential to become a plant.

There are so many grasses, something for every situation, and some are just lovely, but others can soon become weeds, so I'd be wary of letting loose anything that you're not sure of!

Avoid anything that runs, eg Phalaris, or anything that will self seed and cause a problem, unless of course, you enjoy weeding.

My favourite grass is Stipa gigantea.  Big, but well behaved.  And I use a lot of bronze Carex, but I'm near moorland, so it's sort of feels 'right'. But not everyone's cup of tea.

[Goosegirl]

I love grasses and have Carex, Stipa gigantia and tenuissima - both haven't yet been busy self-seeding everywhere but, for some reason (the hard frosts?) my Bowle's Golden grass has seeded all over the place this year. I still love them though but am thinking of cutting off the awms before they go over as I have enough weeds to contend with! Sort of spoils the effect but if I time it right I still have the grasses' leaves waving in the wind.