The variegated Liriope in my garden is grown as an edging to a stony walkway on the side of the house where I also have my mini nursery area. I have no strong emotional ties to this plant. I acquired baby starts of it at least 20 years ago: planted them, and they are still going strong. So I guess they have proved themselves as another tough plant to have in the garden.
I think I have talked about my theory on selecting tough plants for the garden before. I will tell it again for the newcomers to this blog. When choosing tough survivor plants for your garden, you do not look at those beautifully maintained gardens. You check out semi abandoned properties that have not had good care for years. The plants that are still growing there are the ones you want to grow in your garden. It will save you a lot of time and frustration in the future.
Variegated Liriope is native to Asia. It grows in clumps with narrow leaves that grow up to 18" long. In the late summer it can send up a slender stalk with tiny white flowers. The clump will gradually enlarge by sending out underground rhizomes to make new babies on the side. It can grow in full sun or light shade and handles most types of soil. Liriope is a popular ground cover or edging plant. Remember to give it some space for expanding of the clump when you plant it along a cement curb.
As those clumps enlarge it is easy to slice off a few baby plants with a big kitchen knife. Make sure that you get a baby with a few roots on it so you will have to cut into the soil with the knife. These babies are easily potted up. Usually I cut the leaves down to about 8" for easily handling and I will stand the baby in water for one or two days before potting it up.
Sometimes the variegation stripes of the Liriope will disappear. A new baby in the clump will revert to its ancestors characteristics and send up only dark green leaves. Unless I am actually wanting a green type to plant elsewhere, I just cut out the baby that is upsetting uniformity of the edging.
Sometimes my Liriope will look a bit ragged with brown tips, especially after salt winds. I usually go along the border with my scissors and trim off the worst. I read on the internet that on the mainland they will mow mass plantings of Liriope once a year which rather boggles my mind. I guess a mature plant would survive a lawn mower or a weed eater and should have got over its bald look after a few months. About once a year it is good to pull off all the dead leaves that are under the plant. If I am grooming a plant in a pot to sell, I am very careful to just cut off the really dead part of the leaf tip as any cutting in the greener part of the leaf will only look really brown and horrible the next day.
Apart from being a good edging plant, I enjoy adding a few leaves of variegated Liriope to small flower arrangements and even looped to be included in a lei.
Aloha
PS
January, 2020
The salt winds and rains really got to the Liriope this winter so that the leaves look really terrible with their brown ends. Plus the plants are really growing too big and starting to take over too much space along the path. For the first time ever I have attacked the plants with the scissors to cut them to a few inches from the ground. I then attacked them with my gardening knife, cutting each root mat to half its old size. Now I am waiting to see what the damage will be. Hopefully they will grow back in a less intrusive way but I do have some potted babies to put in to replace them if this does not work out.
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| A big ragged plant in the back and a cut down one in front that still needs to be downsized.. |
