Pronounciation: Leer-ee-O-pee mus-CAR-i

Hardiness zones
Sunset 2-10, 12-24
USDA 6-11

Landscape Use: In Phoenix, monkey grass is only usefull in mesic, full shade areas as a landscape border edging plant along driveways and sidewalks, shade ground cover, indoor atriums with bright indirect natural light, or as a shade turf substitute.

Form & Character: Basally clumping, grass like, tufted, oriental.

Growth Habit: Evergreen, herbaceous, narrowleaf perennial subshrub, slowly clumping by rhizomes, 12-inches tall with equal to greater spread.

Foliage/Texture: Linear, green, grass-like foliage to 6-inches long; fine texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Small, showy flowers occur on erect spikes with tiered whorls of dense, white to violet-purple flowers rising above the leaves a few inches during late summer. Shade inhibits flowering. Fruits small, black, drupe like.

Seasonal Color: Little to none in Phoenix because full shade culture inhibits flowering.

Temperature: Tolerant only so long as it is located in a fully shaded locations.

Light: Partial to full shade in Phoenix is essential, necessary, required! But out of the 'Valley of the Sun' monkey grass can be cultured in full sun.

Soil: Tolerant....except one is likely to see marginal leaf necrosis caused by the general salinity of Phoenix soils and irrigation water. To culture monkey grass, amend Phoenix landscape soil with hefty amounts of organic matter to buffer the normal buildup of soil salinity.

Watering: Requires regular supplemental water.

Pruning: Little to none, except to shear to the ground in late February to rejuvenate growth. Some landscape "neat freaks" will remove the flower stalks after bloom. Divide clumps every few years.

Propagation: Seed, division of basal clumps is easy.

Disease and Pests: None

Additional comments: Honestly, monkey grass or big blue lilyturf is of limited use in Phoenix landscapes. It is a landscape subshrub that needs special cultural attention and that "special" shaded location within a landscape just to survive. I reiterate to all Phoenicians, "It MUST be grown in the shade". Monkey grass or big blue lilyturf is a popular landscape staple in the southeastern United States as a lawn edging plant.

There are many cultivated varieties, all of which are of limited use in Phoenix. The cultivar 'Variegata' is a classically popular monkey grass cultivar that can be cultured in mid- and high-elevation cities of Arizona, but not in the landscapes of Phoenix where it will roast like a Costco chicken. The cultivar 'Big Blue' flowers intensely, just not in Phoenix.