Plant Library

Other Names:  Border Grass, Lilyturf

Description:

A tufted, grass-like perennial that features a large clump of arching, glossy, green leaves; a beautiful display of lovely lavender-blue flower spikes; it is best massed along borders or as a groundcover in light shade areas

Ornamental Features

Giant Lily Turf is primarily grown for its highly ornamental fruit. It features an abundance of magnificent blue berries in early fall. Its attractive glossy grassy leaves remain forest green in color throughout the year. It features dainty spikes of lavender flowers with blue overtones rising above the foliage in late summer.

Landscape Attributes

Giant Lily Turf is a dense herbaceous evergreen perennial with a ground-hugging habit of growth. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies to your yard. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Disease

Giant Lily Turf is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• General Garden Use
• Groundcover
• Container Planting
• Bog Gardens

Planting & Growing

Giant Lily Turf will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. 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 10 years. As an evegreen perennial, this plant will typically keep its form and foliage year-round.

This plant does best in partial shade to full shade. Keep it well away from hot, dry locations that receive direct afternoon sun or which get reflected sunlight, such as against the south side of a white wall. It is quite adaptable, prefering to grow in average to wet conditions, and will even tolerate some standing water. It may require supplemental watering during periods of drought or extended heat. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in clay soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This species is not originally from North America. It can be propagated by division.

Giant Lily Turf is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its spreading habit of growth, it is ideally suited for use as a 'spiller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the edges where it can spill gracefully over the pot. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.