Pruning / trimming ornamental grasses
27 February 2026
We are often asked by homeowners to trim back natural grasses such as these grasses, which are lomandra.
Homeowners think the shrubs will look better if cut into a particular shape, such as what you see in these photos. But usually they do not. In online forums, the overwhelming preference of people is for this shrub’s natural state, which is the last one above.
Further, the lomandra ( and other grasses ) start to grow again very erratically, with little spikes sticking up all over in a silly, uneven fashion. They also show up a lot of dead brown patches, as you can see in the photos. For example, see all the spikes here:
Most garden lovers would find the “spikey” look a bit too messy. Trimming the plants like this can also stress them and cause a lot of dead grass, which you can see in many of the above photos.
Often people who are keen for us to improve their gardens ask us to do various things (such as shaping these lomandra) that are simply not good ideas. When we at ImpressioNZ Outdoors do your garden or your personal outdoor spaces, we have a wealth of experience that we bring to you. How to work with these lomandra is only one tiny example of many.
ImpressioNZ Outdoors gardening and landscaping services the North Shore area, and the whole of Auckland for larger jobs. Phone, text or Whatsapp Rod 02102834953