How To Grow Mondo Grass In Your Garden

Mondo grass, (also known as monkey grass), is an evergreen perennial that makes an amazing ground cover grass-like plant. They will flourish in almost any soil and lighting condition. Mondo grass is slow growing, easily propagated by division and needs little care once it is established. It is a truly attractive and excellent landscape plant with a large number of uses. Learning how to grow mondo grass is worth the effort if you are a gardener.

Mondo Grass Information

This resilient plant can handle most things, but won’t do well with inadequate moisture. Mondo grass is not a true species of grass but it does however, have strappy leaves with a tendency to clump. It has the ability to brighten the area up with white or lavender flowers which will eventually turn into beautiful bunches of glossy, blue or black fruit.

Growing this beautiful plant is extremely easy because most species can still do well when neglected, if it’s in an area with lots of natural moisture. You can practically set it and forget it once it’s established unless you want to admire it’s seasonal beauty, or you want to divide it.

Mondo grass is basically huge tussocks shrunk down to a garden-friendly size. They grow to only 6-10 inches tall (15-25cm) and are prone to clumping or mounding depending on the variety. The scientific name of the plant is Ophiopogon japonicas and it refers to the plant’s native region of Asia. The name is derived from the Latin words for snake and beard which is a reference to the spiky flowers.

It makes a great lawn substitute in shady to partially sunny locations because it never needs mowing. It is spread by runners or underground root systems to slowly form dense colonies. The leaves are half an inch wide (1cm), glossy- green or even multi-coloured.

How To Grow Mondo Grass

Mondo grass needs little care, but you need to choose the correct place and for best results, you must prepare the beds for optimal results. The plants are a lighter green if they are in full sun and darker green in shade. As long as the soil is well-draining and there is no competitive weeds.

Clumps can be separated into sections manually, each with several runners. Plant them 4 to 12 inches (10-31cm) apart depending on how quick you want to fill the area in. Dwarf mondo ^[2] is recommended to be planted 2 to 4 inches(5-10cm) apart.

You should cover the roots and runners with loose soil and make sure that you do not cover the plant’s crown. During establishment, you should also keep soil moderately moist.

Mondo Grass Care

There is minimal need to maintain mondo grass if you are growing it as a lawn. Just remove any weeds as they appear and keep the area moist in the dry season. Leaves may be ragged and can be trimmed back a bit, after winter storms for the best appearance. It is advised that you divide the clumps every three or so years if you are growing them as stand-alone plants.

This plant needs little fertilizing and giving it one feeding in spring with a diluted grass fertilizer should be sufficient.

The pests, diseases and ailments that can attack your mondo grass include snails, slugs, scale and fungus but none of these can seriously harm the plant.

There are many varieties of mondo grass to choose from, each with different flower sizes and colours so these plants are a very good addition to anyone’s garden.