Plant-A-Day 2020 (Day 241) Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’

Black mondo grass is one of the few ornamental plants that I don’t really like. The plant is fascinating in its coloring, but also extremely difficult to work into a garden effectively for the same reason. Many landscapers and gardeners try to implement groups of these plants into yards and commercial plantings and it never seems to last. The plants don’t seem to last for long in a black grassy mat–they die out in patches and the color doesn’t seem to hold.

Strangely, as little as I like these plants, I have grown them several times, including having started a bunch of them from seed collected from a public park. Most recently, Leon brought two divisions home from a friend’s house and planted them in the woodland garden. They are surviving so far.

My future plans for these plants are to try and find a proper way to show them off and develop some tiny inkling of a liking for them.