Bana grass is a great hedge but....

..maybe not when it is quite such a fire-prone plant and leads to the front door from the street!

Bana grass hedge

The last few days have been bana grass maintenance days, involving long sleeves and gloves to keep the itchy hairs off the skin. I have done this job a lot and find that if I let the hairs get on me they stay itchy for a while, and need a shower to get rid of them.

Itchy little hairs.

Cleaning out the dead lower leaves removes most of the fire danger as the tall thin culms of the grass only have leaves near the top once established. Cutting out older stalks is also a good way to thin it, or to remove the older ones that just have a silly banner bit left on top. The sticks don't really make very good stakes but they do chip well, except for the soft green leaves.

The dry leaves that have been collected have been added to our composty pile down the back. It doesn't take long to get good big bags of them, so they are quite handy as a compost ingredient.

Off to become compost.

Considering ths spot the bana grass has been in it has done well and made a great job of protecting the west side of the house from nasty Perth summer sun and the ocassional storm that passes by from time to time. The wind off the ocean can be prety strong and the leaves get shredded and send the wind over our roof to the next house up the hill!

Narrow windy places are hard to find plants for, so the bana has done well for us, but I think I would try and use something else given the chance again. Maybe if I had a goat I would feel differently about it.