Mondo grass
Ophiopogon japonicus
also called dwarf lilyturf, japanese mondo
An evergreen mat of dark, narrow straps that arch over and hang — the ground cover for the dry shade under a tree, where a lawn gives up and a bed looks bare.
Spacing & sowing
- Plant spacing
- 7.9 in
- In-row spacing
- 5.9 in
- Between rows
- 9.8 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
Calendar (from your frost dates)
- Plant out
- at the last spring frost
Growing
- Type
- Grass · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Sunlight
- Part to full shade
- Watering
- Moderate
- Soil
- Moist, humus-rich, well-drained
- Feeding
- Gentle all-organic
- USDA zones
- 7a–11a
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
Harvest
- When
- Not harvested. What it wants instead is lifting and splitting, in early spring just as growth starts.
- What to look for
- The clumps have knitted together and the middle of the patch is thinning, or you simply want more of it — one three-year-old clump will make a dozen new plants.
- How to harvest
- Lift a clump with a fork, shake the soil off and pull it apart into fingers of two or three shoots with roots on them. Trim any browned leaf tips, replant at the same depth and water in.
- How often
- Every third or fourth spring, or whenever you want to extend the planting. Shear the whole bed to about 5 cm in late winter if it looks tired — before the new leaves come, or you will cut their tips off for the season.
- Storing the crop
- Nothing to store, and do not let the divisions dry out: get them back in the ground the same day, heeled into a shady corner if you cannot plant them properly yet.
Pests & problems
- Aphids Small sap-sucking insects — greenfly, blackfly — that cluster on soft new growth and excrete sticky honeydew. Squash by hand, hose off with water, and encourage ladybirds and lacewings.
- Leaf spot Brown or black spots that spread and merge in wet weather, sometimes with yellow halos. Pick off affected leaves, clear fallen ones, and water at the base.
- Rust Orange-brown powdery pustules on leaf undersides, weakening the plant over the season. Remove affected leaves, avoid overhead watering, and clear all debris in autumn.
Garden allies
Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. companion plant
- Aphid midge Aphidoletes aphidimyzaHunts Aphids
A tiny midge whose orange maggots paralyze aphids and drink them dry, twenty or more each. Sold as a greenhouse biological control and resident outdoors wherever there are small nectar flowers and an unsprayed aphid colony to find.
- Assassin bug ReduviidaeHunts Aphids
A patient ambusher with a curved beak it drives into whatever it catches — caterpillars, beetles, bugs, and the occasional bee, so count it a generalist rather than a specialist. It will jab a careless finger too, so admire it and leave it be.
- Big-eyed bug Geocoris spp.Hunts Aphids
A stubby 3 mm bug with enormous wrap-around eyes, working the soil surface and the low foliage for aphids, mites, thrips and insect eggs. It is the main natural check on chinch bugs in a lawn and it is killed outright by insecticide.
- Damsel bug NabidaeHunts Aphids
A slender, mantis-armed bug that grabs aphids, small caterpillars, and thrips in low crops and meadowy edges. Leave a strip of unmown grasses and flowers for it to overwinter in.
- Dragonflies & damselflies OdonataHunts Aphids
Aerial hunters that take mosquitoes, midges and small flies on the wing all day, and whose larvae spend a year or more clearing the same insects from the water. A pond with planted margins and no fish is the way to have them.
- Garden birds PasseriformesHunts Aphids
Both things are true: birds strip your currants and a brood of blue tits takes several thousand caterpillars out of one fruit tree in a fortnight. Net what you must and welcome them everywhere else — a nest box near the apples is worth more than a spray.
- Green lacewing Chrysoperla carneaHunts Aphids
Its bristly larvae — "aphid lions" — impale aphids, mealybugs, thrips, and mite colonies, eating hundreds a week. Adults feed on nectar and pollen from small open flowers and overwinter in hollow stems left standing.
- Hoverfly SyrphidaeHunts Aphids
Bee-mimicking flies whose legless larvae graze aphid colonies clean while the adults pollinate. A ribbon of shallow, nectar-rich flowers kept in bloom all season recruits wave after wave of them.
- Ladybird (lady beetle) CoccinellidaeHunts Aphids
The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.
- Minute pirate bug Orius spp.Hunts Aphids
A pinhead-sized true bug that is the best natural check on thrips, and happily spears aphids, mites, and insect eggs too. It needs pollen when prey is scarce, so keep something flowering nearby.
- Parasitic wasps Braconidae & TrichogrammaHunts Aphids
Tiny, stingless wasps that lay eggs in or on caterpillars, aphids, and moth eggs — the white cocoons riding a hornworm are their calling card, so leave that caterpillar be. Umbel flowers with shallow nectar keep the adults fuelled.
- Praying mantis MantidaeHunts Aphids
A sit-and-wait ambusher that snatches caterpillars, beetles, and anything else that wanders close — friend and foe alike, so count it a mixed blessing. Tall, structured plantings give it perches and egg-case anchors.
- Soldier beetle CantharidaeHunts Aphids
Soft-winged beetles seen mating on flower heads in high summer; adults and larvae both take aphids and soft grubs. Open composite flowers are their landing pads and hunting grounds.
- Spiders AraneaeHunts Aphids
Webs, ambushes, and night patrols make spiders the garden’s steadiest generalist predators, taking whatever flies or crawls past. Mulch, ground cover, and undisturbed corners keep the population dense.
Did you know?
It is divided, not sown: lift a clump in spring, pull it apart into rooted fingers, and one nursery flat will edge a whole path. The dwarf form is short enough to walk on between stepping stones.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com