Are you making a shopping list for the Greenhouse Days? The greenhouse will be open to visitors every Saturday in April from 10 am - 2 pm, where you may shop for native plants from Ruffner Mountain and Turkey Creek Nature Preserve. This week’s feature plant is Cherokee sedge (Carex cherokeensis).
“Sedges have edges, and rushes are round, but grasses have nodes from their tips to the ground.”
This rhyme gives us an easy way to remember how to distinguish the difference between sedges, rushes, and grasses. Sedges have edges, but they are also great planted along an edge of a flower border, and they definitely deserve more use in our gardens. Sedges can help set the foundation, create a base layer, fill in the gaps, and offer blooms as well (yes, sedges bloom!). The wheat-like inflorescences of Cherokee sedge droop on stalks above the grasslike leaves. This sedge bunches together and adds structure and accent to plant borders.
Once you are hooked on sedges, you’ll want to add more to the yard. They are great as ground covers or lawn alternatives (simply mow like turf grass). Cherokee sedge is very adaptable to sun and shade, wet or dry. It grows very well in our irrigation-free habitat gardens!
