What do I do when my ornamental grass is going to seed?

Question

We just had a landscaper put in some Dwarf Fountain grass. There are a total of 6--5 have not gone to seed, but there is one single plant that was put in a few days before the others. About a week after the job was done it started to sprout a few seed "cones" or "stalks" (not a gardner, so I'm not sure what they're called). The other 5 are still growing without going to seed.

Should I remove the seed stalks or just let it go? I don't mind the way it looks, but my husband thinks we should cut them back (just the seed part, not the grass).

Answer 1

try cutting just the seed heads off as this is taking the goodness out of the plant, with the seed heads let them dry for a week on a window sill and then try sowing them.you should end up with lots of small plants which you can keep or share with neighbor's.

Answer 2

the seed heads/flowers  are part of the beauty of the plant.... most of us leave them until time to cut the whole plant back(in early spring).....

http://images.google.com/images?q=founta...

they are wonderful if it's snows.. looks nice out in the landscape!..... only time you'd really need to remove them is if your grass tends to re-seed itself and get all over the garden... not too many do..... but if you really don't like the look, it won't hurt to track the stem all the way back to the ground or close to it and cut it off there so the cut end doesn't show in the plant......( as you can tell by those pictures, that could become quite a job as your plant matures and gets GOBS of seedheads!!)

Answer 3

you can cut them or try pulling them out (in some varieties the seed stalks come out easily).

Avoid cutting the actual grass part as this can take a long time to grow out and look good again.