By Bill Ward
Published in The Boerne Star on August 22, 2003
Operation NICE! (Natives Instead of the Common Exotics!) took a timeout during the hottest summer month, but fall is in sight …. almost. It’s back-to-work time for the NICE! Committee.
The NICE! recommendation for September is the bunchgrass Gulf muhly. It is one of the Muhlenbergia, a genus growing in popularity in the Texas nursery trade.
More and more people are becoming aware that the exotic pampas grass is not the only bunchgrass that can be used effectively as a landscape plant. There are several native bunchgrasses that serve the purpose very well. An earlier NICE! plant of the month was Lindheimer’s muhly (M. lindheimeri). Muhlenbergia and other bunchgrasses are increasingly more available at our local nurseries. Gulf muhly is among the most popular grasses for landscaping.
This grass is primarily grown for its fall blooms, which are pink or purplish pink (my wife calls it mauve). During October the low rolling hills of the coastal plain west of Houston have a pink glow. This is Gulf muhly in full bloom.
In the book “Native Texas Gardens” by Sally and Andy Wasowski are photos of Gulf muhly blooming with Maximilian sunflowers in the native-plant garden of our good friends Mary Anne and Bob Pickens in Columbus.
The scene was so spectacular that Sally Wasowski used a similar photo for the cover of the 1997 edition of “Native Texas Plants-Landscaping Region by Region.”
In the Hill Country this grass may not be as lush as in East Texas, but it is a good fall bloomer even here.
To catch that special pink glow in your own yard, plant Gulf muhly in a place that is backlit by the rising or setting sun.
During most of the year, Gulf muhly is a neat clump of green grass with narrow foliage, growing two to 2.5 feet high. It is recommended that the clumps are cut back around Valentine’s Day to insure good spring growth.
Gulf muhly prefers well-drained sites, but some varieties grow well in the poorly drained black gumbo of the Houston area. It can take full sun to part art shade. Once established, Gulf muhly can withstand most droughts in the Hill Country.
Judging by where it grows in nature, Gulf muhly in our Hill Country yards would appreciate an occasional watering. I would think it needs to be kept moist when it is first planted.
Our few-year-old clumps of Gulf muhly get the full force of the hot afternoon sun. They rarely are irrigated, but seem to survive well enough. It is a tough plant.
Another big plus for me is that the whitetail deer do not eat it.
The Boerne Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas provides free planting and care instructions for Gulf muhly at the nurseries participating in Operation NICE!: Barkley’s Nursery Center, Boerne in Bloom Garden Center. Fair Oaks Nursery, Hill Country African Violets and Nursery, Maldonado Landscape and Nursery, and Where Wild Things Grow Native-Plant Nursery.
Certainly I am no expert, but from what I gather from the literature, online and off, there are at least three similar species of Muhlenbergia that may be sold at the nurseries as “Gulf muhly.” Hairy awn muhly (M. capillaris) and Gulf muhly (M. filipes) are common in open fields of East Texas.
The very similar seep muhly (М. reverchoni) grows in seasonally damp spots from the Fort Worth Prairie down to the Hill Country. The variety of “Gulf muhly” available in local nurseries probably is seep muhly, which should do better in our gardens than the East Texas variety.
Whatever the species, it is worth considering for your own landscape. In her book “Native Texas Plants-Landscaping Region by Region,” Sally Wasowski writes, “… just about everyone in the state can use a muhly successfully. They all look similar- knee high and a feathery deep pink in the fall. Everyone I asked who knew these muhlies gave them a star rating.”
