Plant Library

Other Names:  Japanese Woodland Grass

Description:

Graceful arching grassy foliage is dark green with white stripes; almost bamboo-like; makes a spectacular color accent in the garden, beautiful along pathways, edges and containers; provide good drainage; can have nice reddish-tan color in fall

Ornamental Features

White Striped Hakone Grass is primarily valued in the garden for its cascading habit of growth. It attractive grassy leaves are dark green in colour with prominent white stripes. The foliage often turns tan in fall.

Landscape Attributes

White Striped Hakone Grass is a dense herbaceous perennial grass with a shapely form and gracefully arching stems. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other garden plants with less refined foliage.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and usually looks its best without pruning, although it will tolerate pruning. It has no significant negative characteristics.

White Striped Hakone Grass is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

White Striped Hakone Grass will grow to be about 18 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 24 inches. Its foliage tends to remain dense right to the ground, not requiring facer plants in front. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 15 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!

This plant should be grown in a location with partial shade or which is shaded from the hot afternoon sun. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

White Striped Hakone Grass is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a canvas of foliage against which the thriller plants stand out. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden. Be aware that in our climate, most plants cannot be expected to survive the winter if left in containers outdoors, and this plant is no exception. Contact our experts for more information on how to protect it over the winter months.

At Shelmerdine, we treat this plant as a "HOBBY PLANT" meaning that it is not recognized as winter-hardy in our Zone 3 climate. However, there is a possibility that it could survive winter. Regardless of whether it survives a winter or not, this plant is only warrantied until Nov. 1 of its season of purchase.