Love: Black Mondo Grass – Ophiopogon nigrens

I think my favorite thing about this grass is the ink jet black bold straps of leaves and the fat fruit that comes after the slightly purple-ish white blooms fade. The berries seem almost like they are made of obsidian, they are so BLACK. I am also a fan of how tough Black Mondo grass has proven to be. It not only survives Northwest winters (in the ground, not in containers, it seems to handle sun or shed and seems to thrive in rockery settings, which is how I think the grass is best used, near boulders and natural stone structures. The root structure of Mondo grass is also very interesting in that it spreads reliably without being too invasive and is easy to tease out of other invasive plants if they get tangled up with the wrong crowd. Very low maintenance, drought tolerant, and year round interest.