How to prune Variegated Lilyturf (Liriope Muscari)

Variegated Lilyturf perennials – also known as Liriope Muscari – have earned my respect for their easy care, being practically maintenance free! I think every garden needs to have some carefree plants like these! Here’s how to easily prune them in the Spring . . .

Last Fall, just after Labor Day, we embarked on a professional landscape transformation of our front yard.

Have I shared the pictures and amazing story here yet? No. I am so bad, and promise to get my butt in gear to finish up editing the pictures. (The problem is that I took SO many, and you don’t need to see 65 pictures of dirt piles, even though they fascinated me!)

In our main bed in the front yard is where you’ll find 7 Variegated Lilyturf plants, also known as Liriope Muscari.

These plants have earned my respect for their easy care, and for how hard they work at staying maintenance free! I think every garden needs to have some carefree plants like Variegated Lilyturf!

The Lilyturf was planted in mid-September, and just a month later, they had grown like crazy in the new, fertile dirt and mulch!

Here’s a better shot, although it’s in the shade . . .

Variegated Lilyturf also known “Liriope Muscari”

• Use as a clumpy groundcover or as border edging
• Blooms in late Summer with purple-lilac-blue (my best description) flowers
• Flowers resemble grape hyacinths
• Evergreen – keeps its color year-round
• Perennial in USDA Zones 5 – 11 (Your own growing conditions may vary.)
• Partial sun, and easily adaptable to shade or full sun once established
• Deer resistant

Our Variegated Lilyturf plants kept their color during the Winter months, but after a few snowstorms coupled with below-freezing temperatures, they looked a bit ragged:

And that’s where the basic – and minimal – care comes in:

Every Spring, before the new growth begins, simply prune them down to within a few inches of the ground.

I pruned our Liriope (what I personally call them) on April 21st:

Here’s how the plants looked two weeks later on May 5th:

Here’s how the plants looked on May 13th:

And here’s how the Liriope looked on May 18th, almost a month after being pruned:

Yes, that’s how easy it is to look after your Lilyturf plants!

Optional pruning: In the Fall, after the blooms are finished, I’ll cut those off at the base of each stem. If the leaves are looking a bit too long, I’ll snip off a couple of inches at the most from the ends. Then I have nice green color during the Winter months!

Happy gardening!

~Laura