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The No Mess Way to Cut Back Ornamental Grasses

By Marie Iannotti, About.com

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Finishing the Job - A Tidy Way to Clean Up Ornamental Grasses

Cutting Down Ornamental Grasses

Cutting Down Ornamental Grasses

Photo: © Marie Iannotti (2008) licensed to About.com, Inc.

Now all you are left with is a neat and tidy ornamental grass bundle. There will undoubtedly be a few renegade blades to clean up, but nothing like the messy sprawl it could have been.

Picking up the ornamental grass bundles to take to the compost pile is an easy enough task, but removing the tape can be a major hassle. That's why I would recommend using a good quality paper masking tape, rather than a vinyl tape. The masking tape may tear more easily, so you will need more of it to hold the ornamental grass bundle together, but you can then toss the whole bundle into the compost and not worry about the tape remaining there forever. Of course, you can always sieve out the vinyl tape, so don't waste your patience trying to remove it before composting.

You see, that was easy.

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