Wood melick

How to recognise it

Growth habit

Loose, perennial grass 20–60 cm tall, with thin, creeping rhizomes; forms loose patches.

Leaf

Flat, thin and floppy, 3–7 mm wide, fresh green and slightly hairy. The ligule is short, with a striking, pointed, bristle-like appendage on the side opposite the blade.

Flower

Airy panicle with only a handful of spikelets on long, thin stalks, from May to July. Each spikelet is 4–7 mm, purple-brown and upright, and contains only one fertile floret.

Stem

Thin, smooth and slightly arching, with shortly hairy leaf sheaths.

Roots

Thin, creeping rhizomes just under the leaf litter, with which the plant slowly spreads.

Confusion with

Mountain melick has nodding spikelets that hang to one side, with two or three fertile florets, and a short ligule without a bristle. It is much rarer in Belgium.

Flowering: May–July · Pruning: March

Why grow it?

• One of the few grasses that really thrive in the shade of trees and shrubs.
• Food for the caterpillars of moths and other insects that live on woodland grasses.
• A typical species of ancient woodland: where it grows, the wood has often been there for a very long time.
• Graceful from May to July, when the purple-brown spikelets hang like beads above the leaves.
• Slowly forms a loose, natural carpet that suppresses weeds under shrubs.
• Little work: no watering, no feeding and one tidy-up a year.

Wood melick: where does it grow best?

• In the wild in shady deciduous woods, especially beech and oak woods, on slopes, in sunken lanes and along woodland edges.
• Moisture-retentive, humus-rich, fairly fertile soil: loam or loamy sand, neutral to chalky.
• Partial shade to shade; in full sun the leaves scorch and the soil dries out too much.
• In the garden: under trees and shrubs, in a shady border, a woodland garden or along a shady path.

Goes well with

• Wood anemone: White spring flowers before the grass really gets going; they grow together in the same woods.
• Sweet woodruff: A scented, white-flowered carpet that often grows next to wood melick in beech woods.
• Solomon’s-seal: Arching stems with white bells above the low grass.
• Bluebell: Blue spring flowers in shade; the grass then hides their dying leaves.
• Male fern: Large fronds as a contrast with the fine grass leaves.

Wood melick: when and how to plant it?

1. Buy wood melick from a nursery for native plants or perennials. Never dig up plants in woodland.
2. Plant in March–April or in September–October, when the soil is moist.
3. Use 5–9 plants per m², 30–40 cm apart; the carpet then closes up within a few years.
4. Mix some leaf mould into the planting spot and cover with a layer of leaves: that mimics the woodland floor.
5. You can also sow it: sow fresh seed in summer or autumn in a pot of loamy soil and leave it outside over winter.
6. Water in dry spells during the first year; after that it is hardly ever needed.

Care

Water

Only in the first year during dry spells. After that it copes perfectly well in shade.

Feeding

Not needed. Leave fallen leaves where they are: they turn into humus by themselves.

Fallen leaves

Simply leave the autumn leaves of the trees on the grass; it grows through them in spring.

Tidying

In March, comb or cut away the old, dead leaves before the new leaves appear.

Spreading

It spreads slowly by rhizomes. Too much? Dig up a piece in spring and give it away.

Tip: Plant wood melick where you can see it up close, such as along a shady path: the delicate beads only really stand out when you stop to look.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: March.

When: In late February or March, before the new leaves appear.

How:

• Leave the dead flower heads and leaves standing over winter: insects overwinter in them and the leaves protect the rhizomes.
• In March, comb the old leaves out of the clump with your fingers or a rake, or cut them back short.
• Do not cut into the young green leaves: the plant needs them to grow.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Division

In March–April or September, dig up a piece from the edge with rhizomes and leaves and plant it elsewhere. The easiest method.

Seed

Sow fresh seed in summer or autumn and leave it outside over winter; it germinates in spring.

Wood melick: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −25 °C.

• The leaves die back for the most part and turn straw-coloured; the rhizomes overwinter in the woodland soil.
• Fully hardy.
• The dry clumps and fallen leaves shelter insects, spiders and other small creatures of the woodland floor.

Diseases and pests

• Too much sun: In a sunny, dry spot the leaves turn brown. Move the plant into shade.
• Slugs: Young shoots are sometimes eaten. The plant usually recovers; attract hedgehogs and ground beetles with a wild corner.
• Drought: In dry summers under trees the leaves can die back early. Water during the first years and leave fallen leaves as a mulch.
• Slow start: In the first year little seems to happen. Be patient: after two or three years it forms a carpet.

Through the year

• March: Comb out or cut back the old leaves. Plant and divide.
• April: New, fresh green leaves appear.
• May: Flowering begins: the first purple-brown spikelets.
• June: Full flower.
• July: Last flowers. The seed ripens.
• August: Water young plants in dry weather.
• September: Plant and divide. Sow fresh seed.
• October: Leave the autumn leaves of the trees where they fall.
• November: The leaves turn straw-yellow.
• December: Rest. The rhizomes overwinter under the leaf litter.

Did you know?

• Its Dutch name, parelgras (‘pearl grass’), refers to the small, shiny spikelets that hang from their stalks like beads; uniflora means ‘one-flowered’, because each spikelet has only one fertile floret.
• In Britain, among other places, it is on lists of plants that indicate ancient woodland: it spreads so slowly that it hardly reaches new woods.
• Next to the fertile floret, each spikelet contains a small club of sterile scales.