Garden Guru: Rush for Blue Mohawk to be your container’s thriller plant

Norman Winter
·3 min read
This display seen at Young’s Plant Farm Annual Garden Tour was quite stunning as it featured Graceful Grasses Blue Mohawk rush, Heart to Heart Fast Flash caladiums and Sweet Caroline Medusa Green Ornamental Sweet Potatoes.
This display seen at Young’s Plant Farm Annual Garden Tour was quite stunning as it featured Graceful Grasses Blue Mohawk rush, Heart to Heart Fast Flash caladiums and Sweet Caroline Medusa Green Ornamental Sweet Potatoes.

Norman Winter is a horticulturist. He is a former director of the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens. Follow him on Facebook at Norman Winter “The Garden Guy.” See more columns by Norman at SavannahNow.com/lifestyle/home-garden/.

A display at the recent Young’s Plant Farm Annual Garden Tour caused quite a stir not only within the industry that day, but also on my Facebook page as well.

I would like to take credit by saying it was my beautiful photography but to be honest when you look at a planting and say something like "holy wow "or "oh wow," it is always the plants. The display was really a trifecta of award winners that just happened to come together and the crème de la crème was Blue Mohawk rush or juncus.

I would like to take you down memory lane to about 15 years ago. At that time, I was the coordinator for the Mississippi Medallion Award program for Mississippi State University.

In our trials we were looking at several Juncus species but mainly Juncus inflexus, and the native J. effusus as well as various named varieties. They all did exceptionally well and we did something a little odd in that we chose "Juncus species" as the Mississippi Medallion Award winner for 2008, along with Diamond Frost euphorbia and All Around Purple gomphrena.

This recipe called Misty Seas features Supertunia Mini Vista selections Indigo, Violet Star and White all surrounding Graceful Grasses Blue Mohawk rush used as an elegant thriller.
This recipe called Misty Seas features Supertunia Mini Vista selections Indigo, Violet Star and White all surrounding Graceful Grasses Blue Mohawk rush used as an elegant thriller.

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At that time there was a new trend in southern landscapes called the dry creek. This was the perfect remedy for those areas where you needed to move water away from the house. The dry creek all decked out with river rock and plants not only solved a problem but also became a real eye-catching aspect of the landscape. As you might guess, the rush or Juncus species became choice plants.

A couple of years later Proven Winners started entering Blue Mohawk a variety of Juncus inflexus in trials and this variety won "Top Performer" 42 times, if your state had a trial Blue Mohawk was the likely winner. But as Proven Winners so often does, showed us how elegant this plant was as a thriller in mixed containers. Now a dozen years later new recipes are still taking the world by storm.

Though a simple design, this urn with Supertunia Vista Silverberry and Graceful Grasses Blue Mohawk rush is nothing short of picturesque.
Though a simple design, this urn with Supertunia Vista Silverberry and Graceful Grasses Blue Mohawk rush is nothing short of picturesque.

This was the case June 7 when Blue Mohawk was standing so picturesque, surrounded by Heart to Heart Fast Flash caladiums and Sweet Caroline Medusa Green sweet potato. Sure, you are still invited to let Blue Mohawk solve landscape issues wherever they are needed but now Blue Mohawk has moved into the category of fine art.

Consider the fairly new recipe called Misty Seas, this was also seen at Young’s Plant Farm. It features Supertunia Mini Vista Indigo, Supertunia Mini Vista Violet Star and Supertunia Mini Vista White, all award winners - and as you might guess, surrounding the Blue Mohawk. This could be the perfect choice for your porch, patio or deck.

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This recipe called Breezy Shore features a color scheme called triadic harmony using Laguna Sky Blue lobelia, Superbells Dreamsicle calibrachoa, Flambe Yellow chrysocephalum, Boldly Deep Red geranium with Graceful Grasses Blue Mohawk rush.
This recipe called Breezy Shore features a color scheme called triadic harmony using Laguna Sky Blue lobelia, Superbells Dreamsicle calibrachoa, Flambe Yellow chrysocephalum, Boldly Deep Red geranium with Graceful Grasses Blue Mohawk rush.

The Blue Mohawk rush is considered a warm season grass. It can be perennial from Zones 5a through 9b or treated as an annual which is what many mixed container designers do.

In the landscape, you may wish to let it perennialize. They will reach 24 to 36-inches tall with a 12-inch spread. As a perennial, it has the possibility of doing a slow spread by underground rhizomes. Once frost has induced a winter rest, you can leave the stalks to add winter interest. Once spring arrives and growth is imminent, cut the stalks back to ground level.

The "rush" is on for the long growing season ahead, and I promised you could not find a more picturesque thriller for your mixed containers than Proven Winners Graceful Grasses Blue Mohawk. Just know you will make your gardening friends jealous!

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Blue Mohawk is the ideal thriller plant or flower for your garden