Dwarf pamapas grass is supposedly winter hardy for the zone I am in (6A).
However, I have had no luck last year (both plants died)-I took two inside, and kept them in the basement until mid-March.
my question is: can these plants be successfully overwintered outside, if I cut them down and cover them up with straw or leaves?
I would really love to have them bloom-but even the ones I overwintered inside haven’t 9yet).
If they’re supposed to be winter hardy, but you find it’s dicey, you can do some things to make the odds better. If you cover it with something that will mat down, you might get rot and lose it anyway. Make a circle of chicken wire (poultry netting) a couple feet across, around the plant’s base. Fill that up with loose leaves. That will keep the cold wind from drying it out, and the occasional warm day won’t cook it.
It’s a good winter method for roses, too.
AskNott’s above method is good for helping marginal plants overwinter in cold areas.
The main issues with overwintering are cold and wet. If the pampas grass was planted in spring, and had a good season to grow it’s roots, it’s more able to overwinter. If the soil has decent airspace/ insulation, that’s a plus. Protection from cold wet clay soils, another plus. Siting it where it gets warm winter sun, or heat mass from a building, even more success, as it’s a microclimate that gives a marginally hardy plant an edge up.
Bringing a plant in for the winter into a basement or garage usually fails, besides being too cold, when the plant is allowed to dry out too much. Did that happen with yours ?
Where are you, and what’s your soil like?
elelle, horticulturist
My parents always had pampas grass (not dwarf though - we used to joke about dad pretending it was elephant grass from Vietnam and hiding in it with Claymores deployed around the yard). We always cut it down to a few inches above the soil line, and it came back up the following spring (to about 7’!
This was in Upstate New York.
I’m 15 miles west of Boston, MA. I live on a hillside, so the cold air usually doesn’t settle aound the garden. The plant I brought in was kept by a basement window, and watered regularly. Should I plant the two I have in pots now? I was thinking of bringing them in , in mid-December.
I also planted one in my mother’s garden (on Cape Cod) the cape is the same zone as northern Virginia, so we will see.