My grasses grew faster than anything else in the garden that I planted last year & are currently hiding the tree (behind the grasses.) Should I be trimming the seeded plumes so that the grasses do not take over the area?
No need to trim the seed heads of this one. the seeds of Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster' are sterile. You can keep them as long as find them to be attractive--should go well into winter.
Very nice-looking planting there, Armeda. People up here still seem to be a little confused about the concept of using grasses like this. There was a nice seaside planting of 'Karl Foerster' in the town where I live. But the good volunteers from the town "improvement association" who took care of weeding and watering, etc., evidently became alarmed by the tall showy seed heads. Just at the moment when the plants reached the height of their annual beauty, the volunteers chopped them right back down to 12-inch stubs. And now this year they have been completely gotten rid of -- along with the Coreopsis 'Moonbeam' -- and replaced by more typical municipal plantings: lots of color at mid-summer, zero structural interest the rest of the year.
