Why You Want To Mow Your Lawns Low

About This Episode

The Grumpy Gardener answers a reader’s question on planting a Japanese maple. Plus, Grumpy’s tip of the week on lawn-care.

Question Of The Week

"I love your column. I was just thinking about planting a Japanese maple near my swimming pool. Do these maples take hot sun? I live just south of Atlanta." -Nancy

Grumpy's Answer

Generally, a lot of Japanese maples, they like a little bit of afternoon shade. They don't like to be planted where there's a lot of reflected heat coming from masonry and stuff like that. The good news is that there are a lot of Japanese maples that will take full sun and do just fine, so I'm gonna give you some examples. One of my favorites is called Emperor I. That's an upright-growing Japanese maple. Probably gets to be 10 to 12 feet tall. It has deep, purplish-red foliage all summer long and it takes the sun. I've got it at my house and I know. Another one of my favorites is one called Fireglow. That one grows a little bit smaller than Emperor I, has, kind of a spreading shape to it, but like Emperor I, it has that reddish foliage, it stays that color all summer and it's not gonna get too big, so it's, probably, oh,10 to 12 feet. It's not going to overpower anything. An old favorite that you'll see in a lot of garden centers is called Bloodgood. That's one of the most popular, widely planted, Japanese maples in the country. It gets to be a little bit bigger than those. It can be anywhere from 15 to 18 feet tall, but it has deep red-purple foliage all summer. Now, if you wanna have something that's a little smaller, you might want to try one of the weeping cut leaf maples, and I'm going to give you three good ones. And these basically, they will grow to be, let's say four, maybe four feet tall and six to seven feet wide, and they have cascading branches. So they're very graceful, they grow slowly, so they won't take over a space. One of my favorites is one called Crimson Queen. That has red-purple foliage all summer. There is another one called waterfall. That one has green foliage in the summer, and then it turns bright, bright yellow in the fall. It's really pretty. And then a new weeping form that is becoming very popular and is easy to get from garden centers is one called, now, I'm gonna have to spell this for you after I say it, Tamukeyama. It's T-A-M-U-K-E-Y-A-M-A. Tamukeyama. It's a very easy, hardy plant to grow and I think you'll really like it, and it will take full sun.

Tip Of The Week

And this is for people who have warm-season grass like zoysia, Bermuda, centipede, St.Augustine, these are grasses that go dormant during the wintertime and turn brown. Now is a good time while they're still dormant or just starting to come out that you wanna mow those grasses low, and when I say low, I would say to an inch or so. The reason is, is because, if you don't, these grasses tend to form something called thatch, and this is a buildup of old leaves and stems and roots near the surface of the lawn and the surface of the soil, and they can block easy passage of air and water and also, they can promote disease. So, all you have to do to prevent this, it's real simple, just get yourself your mulching mower, set it to one inch, and then just mow your lawn. You don't have to pick up the clippings if you don't want to. They won't cause any harm. They will decompose. Not only will this get rid of the thatch threat, but it'll also help your lawn green up faster. You don't wanna wait to do this until your lawn is fully green, do it just before it's about ready to turn green.

About Ask Grumpy

Ask Grumpy is a podcast featuring Steve Bender, also known as Southern Living’s Grumpy Gardener. For more than 20 years, Grumpy has been sharing advice on what to grow, when to plant, and how to manage just about anything in your garden. Tune in for short episodes every Wednesday and Saturday as Grumpy answers reader questions, solves seasonal conundrums, and provides need-to-know advice for gardeners with his very Grumpy sense of humor. Be sure to follow Ask Grumpy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen so you don't miss an episode.

Editor’s Note: Please be mindful that this transcript does not go through our standard editorial process and may contain inaccuracies and grammatical errors.