Miscanthus giganteus 'Duluxii': A Stephen Ryan garden craft special!

Miscanthus giganteus 'Duluxii': A Stephen Ryan craft special! This week we are stopped in our tracks by the most extraordinary slash of bold red winter colour in Stephen's garden....only to discover all is NOT as it seems! Miscanthus giganteus is a wonderful tall decorative grass that can be grown in a wide range of zones and conditions, has beautiful summer form...but...is perhaps less than attractive in winter! Stephen's solution to an open garden emergency caused SOME vitriol at the time! What do you think?!

[achillesbuchanan]

Delightful! A labour of love for us all to enjoy. Thank you!

[jeanneclark]

My dad's cousin did this with the dried flower heads of giant alliums! Like you, she had a garden tour scheduled, but the alliums bloomed early. Her daughter, a florist, suggested spraypainting the flower heads--so she sprayed them blue. When we visited a bit later, Mom asked Jeanette where she'd found blue ones AND ones that bloomed later than the others. Jeanette got a funny look on her face, and then led us closer and told us what she'd done. That happened years ago, and Mom and I still tell that story!

[colsennz]

I absolutely love it. It's diy garden art and the new green growing through it looks stunning.

[torpa]

i remember you telling this story years ago at the Bolobek open gardens. It was the funniest thing i heard all year especially when you said you had people calling up Dicksonia asking for the plant lol...

[besottedorchids]

I'm way to amused to be enraged...lol how wonderfully creative. Love the deluxii

[peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo]

Well that's interesting. I think you are brilliant...in the moment 👩‍🌾👍

[naomikirsch]

Love, love, love it!!! How sculptural and artistic! Any disapproval may be rooted in jealousy about your creativity. Wouldn’t do it all over the garden but as a surprise focal point in the winter garden…delightful.

[tenealsimpson]

That's bloody fantastic I'm definitely going to do this 😁👍🤩

[alexpalma]

Thanks for the videos you seem both like a lots of fun

[MyFocusVaries]

Duluxii rubra!! LOL! I definitely prefer that over pink flamingos. I wonder if the reaction would be different if you'd used some organic dye or colour. It looks great.

[jonathantaylor]

What a great idea, may try it here in the UK with perhaps a Halloween version in black and orange. Then red for Christmas 🦇🎅😁

[kateb]

I saw this in at your open garden maybe 10 years ago and asked you about the striking red plant.
‘Miscanthus duluxii’
‘oh like the paint?’
‘...yes...I painted it’

I felt a bit silly, so I’m glad more knowledgeable people than me have been fooled too! 🤣

[Bluemagilla]

I love it! Reminded me of the giant yellow bamboo at first. You had me fooled too 😉

[susiegerraty]

I'm inspired!! Great thing to do with the kids at school :)

[grandmothergoose]

This is genius. Are there any other types of grasses, or other plants in general, that one could one potentially create a duluxii variation of?

[johannsgarden]

I've found that if you start peeling off the lower leaves of giant miscanthus as they age out in the summer, the exposed portions of stem develop a lot of red pigment without having to do any painting!

[sstokke]

At first I thought eww, as one of the local nurseries spray paints little 4" Heather's for the holidays and it looks bad. Your grass looks fantastic😍! I want to try this but the soil here has gone hydrophobic. I may try it I'm a container. My hubby and I watch your videos first thing on Thursday. Always interesting, educational, and well done😀

[mariale]

Oh man!!!! 🤣 i guess my red twig dogwood guess is a bust, lol!

[FrancienDanielsWebb]

Oh something that truely tickles my fancy. I love ❤️ the red so much but what about a red white and blue (Dutch flag) so paint the grass horizontally ! Now to buy the Micanthus and spray paint

[Luke-PlanesTrainsDogsnCars]

Kinda reminds me of the old Maggie Tabberer ''The Home Show'' that aired in the 80's.... Maggie would reach the end of a craft feature and say ..''now isn't that a great idea'' 😐😑😶 Like half dipping expired green agapanthus heads into luminous orange paint..as 4 me well , I'm still trying to work out how to dip them while still on the plant.