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Ophiopogon intermedius 'Argenteomarginatus' (Aztec Grass) - This evergreen grass-like perennial forms tufts to 18 inches tall with narrow arching leaves that are striped pale green and white. Attractive small white flowers in upright spikes appear just rising above the foliage crown in late summer, followed by small blue berries.
Plant in light shade or part sun but will also grow in full coastal sun. Irrigate occasionally to regularly but will be more robust and flower better with regular water and is moderately hardy to frost, tolerating temperatures to around 10 F.
>p>Ophiopogon intermedius is native as an understory in forests, riparian areas and grassy slopes from 2,300 to 10,000 feet through much of China, Southeast Asia and west into India. This plant is often just sold as variegated Liriope or "Aztec Grass" and we mistakenly offered it for many years (from 1998 to 2013) under the name Ophiopogon jaburan 'Variegata' but this plant has a more delicate upright inflorescence and not the long arching inflorescence with densely clustered large white flowers that is characteristic of Ophiopogon jaburan. We thank Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery for pointing us to the work of Jason Lattier, whose Master's thesis at North Carolina State University titled "Cytogenetics, Micropropagation, and Polyploid Induction of Selected Nursery Crops" (2012) discussed the misidentification of this plant. Another very helpful resource was Mary Boussard's doctoral thesis at Louisiana State University titled "A Horticultural Study Of Liriope And Ophiopogon: Nomenclature, Morphology, and Culture"(2007).
We grew and sold this nice plant from 1998 but discontinued growing it in 2013 when it became apparent that many other nurseries were growing it. Since it was widely available elsewhere we decided to use the space and time it took to produce it to grow other plants. We still have examples of it in the garden.
The information about Ophiopogon intermedius 'Argenteomarginatus' displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant. |
