The scientific name for Monkey grass is ophiopogon japonicus. We can use this grass as border in landscaping projects.It carries beautiful white flowers and blue fruits. It is a famous ornamental plant too. We can use this grass for medicinal purposes. Linear leaves are the main attractions of this grass. Leaves leaning down towards ground are a beautiful view. This ornamental grass has another name, mondo grass. It is mainly used to make boarders along pavements. Now, Let us see different types of Monkey grasses.
Main types of monkey grasses (Mondo Grasses) are:
Liriope Muscari:
Common names for Liriope muscari are border grass, mono grass and Lilyturf. We can identify this type from other types by its height. It is 15 to 18 inches tall and 12 inches wide. Leaves are .5 to1 inch wide. It is a herbaceous, ornamental grass which is a perennial grass. It grows with moderate speed. Main uses of Liriope muscari are
- Mass planting
- Binding
- Naturalizing
- In front of foundation plantings
This grass has dense evergreen glass like leaves. These leaves can make our garden beautiful. It blooms in July or August. It has white, lavender and purple flowers and blue berry fruits. We can grow this plant under sun or shade. There will be a color change if we grow it in shade. It is a heat resistant plant and grows in drought.
Liriope Spicata
It is the second type of Monkey grass. This grass is also 15 to 18 inches tall. We can differentiate this one from other grass by its root color. It is light brown or cream color. It is also known as creeping lilyturf. It is a herbaceous, perennial, ornamental grass. Main attraction is its dense mat like lawnmower. Itss dense glassy leaves are evergreen. It is a fast growing herb. It blooms in August or July. It will also grow nicely under sun or in shade. Plants that grow in shade will have slightly different color. Liriope spicata has different uses like:
- For mass planting
- Naturalizing
- As base of shrubs
- To control erosion
- Lawn replacement on slopes
- Edging to ‘spade off’ the runners years
Ophiogon japonicus
It is also known as Monley Grass or, Border Grass. This herbaceous, ornamental grass grows about 10-12 inches tall. We can identify these plants with its narrow leaves. It is just 0.25 inches wide. Its roots are brown in color. This grass grows with moderate speed. White or lavender flowers of the grass are usually covered by foliage. We can get blue or cream berries in the month of August or July. We can get darker foliage when we allow it to grow in shade. We mainly use this herb for
- groundcover
- Border along paths
- Edging
Ophiogon japonicus (dwarf)
It is also known as Mini Mondo Grass or Dwarf Monley Grass. This ornamental plan is just two to three inches height. This plant rarely blooms and there are no berries for this type of plants. We can grow it under the sun with adequate watering. It doesn’t need mowing.
It is mainly used as
- Border between stepping stones or pavers
- As shade-tolerant lawn
- Replacement under trees and shrubs