Wednesday 4 April 2012

Burning the Pampas.

Following my advice to cut back and burn their Pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana), bloggers Tim and Gaynor of Le Petite Presse felt "a bit too scared" to fully complete the task by set fire to it, as they describe here.

I know exactly how they feel, as this year is the first time I have set fire to ours. I only did one of the three we have and only because I had seen one of our neighbors burning theirs.

I am glad I did and I am astounded with the results.

In an attempt to convince both them and anyone else that burning it is worthwhile take look at the photographs below...

This was taken on the 28th of March, the day of the burning...


These were taken today, exactly one week since the Pampas was ablaze...


Its new growth is amazing in just a week.

Get the matches out... but make sure you don't set fire to anything else...

6 comments:

GaynorB said...

Amazing!

Now if we could just move the house by a few metres ...

Colin and Elizabeth said...

Yes, I guess it is rather too close for comfort! :)

Janice said...

Absolutely amazing....that looks like magic to me. Will it be too late to attack my pampas grass in such a way when I get to Caunes next week ? Janice

Lesley said...

The white dead bits were a fantastic help in starting the bonfire of other garden waste, but I think you have to be very careful of any burning near other plants/grasses, fences and neighbours.

Colin and Elizabeth said...

Hi Janice I would look to see if there is any new growth. If not I would burn it. Be careful they do flare up...

The Broad said...

That is truly amazing!