Photographs of this planting through the 2026 season, oldest first.
The photographs
Week of 1 JuneOne tight crown of narrow keeled blades on 1 June, arching out and drooping at every tip, fresh yellow-green with older basal leaves already dried to straw among them and water beaded the length of each blade after a soaking.Week of 1 JuneA clump-forming grass on 5 June, thirty-odd flat blades arching out of one dense tuft and drooping at their straw-dried tips, the sheaths at its base washed pink-red and a few blades cut cleanly straight across, in soft flat light.Week of 6 JulyOn 9 July a grass clump arching out in a fountain past every side of its bag, each blade keeled along a pale midrib and rough to the margin — and packed tight at the middle, dozens of shoots with their lower sheaths tinted coral-pink to russet.Week of 24 AugustLemongrass on 27 August, a dense clump of strap leaves rising out of swollen stem bases that are deep red-purple at ground level and fade to green above, the outer sheaths dried to paper and the leaf tips arching over and browning.Week of 5 OctoberA single low crown fans out twenty-odd strap-shaped blades on 7 October, each keeled at the base with a pale whitish midrib running its full length to a fine drooping tip, several kinked partway, a few dried tan and thread-thin. Low sun, sharp shadows.
