A Weird Hillbilly's Garden

[Ninurta]

Pampas Grass

Pampas grass has been declared an "invasive species" in California and Texas, but I'm not in either of those places, so there is that.

The seed for this that I have came from Kansas City, Missouri. When I lived out there, one of the jobs I worked involved a half mile walk from the bus stop to the store, and all along that route, pampas grass was growing wild. It had tough stems that reached about 8 or 10 feet tall and were topped by cottony tufts of flowers and seeds. I simply snapped off a few seed heads and kept them.

I know the seeds are viable, as I put some dirt in a milk jug and just tossed in some of the seeds in at the last place I lived, and voila! In a few days, they were sprouting. In a strange turn of events, my weird ass cat somehow got the idea that they were "food", and they didn't survive the onslaught.

I have a taser now. Cats beware.

Most folks grow pampas grass for ornamentation, but I have ulterior motives. Those stems are ideal for arrow shafts and atlatl dart shafts. They are tough and springy, and I'm guessing they would be better than even cane as shaft material. I have a 2 foot section of one that I brought all the way from Kansas City, together with the seed. .Matter of fact, it came from one of the seed heads I saved. It's standing in a bucket of crossbow bolts I have near to hand. I take it out and examine it every now and then, and even now, 8 years later, it's still as tough as a hickory wythe, and still just as serviceable for an arrow shaft.

Here is an image of this year's pampas grass starter planting:



Not sprouting yet, but it's only been 4 days. I think last time I tried it, it took a week, maybe two, to sprout. We'll see how it goes. If I can find a picture of those previous sprouts, I'll come back and post it in this post. Watch this space.

As promised, here are some picture of my first attempt at growing pampas grass, from 2017 -

First, shortly after sprouting:



Next, after about a month of growth:



I did manage to get a clump of that last attempt outdoors and in the ground, but I don't think it survived, either. I'm hoping that these peat pellets will make the transplanting easier - I'll just dig a hole big enough for both the plant and pellet, and pop the whole shebang in. I have 12 pellets of pampas grass trying to start, with anywhere from 4 to 6 seeds per pellet,  so if I can get just one plant to survive in each of them, that'll be 12 clumps of pampas grass in a couple of years, and 12 or so arrow shafts in 2 to 5 years. After that, wind borne self-seeding will take over, and generations yet unborn should have decent arrow shafts years from now. If they know what to do with them.

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