Amen! I've fallen in love with the Carex genus after seeing your early work with them, and I couldn't be happier. I even found a nursery relatively close that carries a few native species and have enjoyed revamping my landscape with them. I now have about 10 C.pensylvanica growing under my oak where nothing would grow decently before, and they are a lovely pairing. I can't wait to see Penn's Sedge fill in to give me a lush green carpet under the oak. I'll be adding more as I can just to help speed up the process! The hardest part, really, is deciding on what to plant where. I don't have much of a selection to choose from, so I'm trying to plant native sedges in different areas so I'll have both a nursery and a test bed that allows me to learn about them.
Thank you Roy! Particularly when trying to learn about the different sedges: the sources leave out of the description how aggressive the varieties are-- how much the seed themselves around. Again thank you for this work.
We have hakonechloa and love it especially because of the winter interest. I have listened to you talk about carex and last year was at Northwind and bought some carex pennsylvanica. I wanted a similar grassy effect that would remain in winter. I planted it in shade under a satomi dogwood on the edge of the bed near a birdbath. And I love it. It is so bright green, structurally interesting and stays in check. The bed also has hostas, brunnera, and astilbe in it.
Roy, the attack nutgrass /nutsedge started past 10 days in my Prarie , it looks like sedges one would want! I got into a hissy and starting pulling a few desired sedges too I think because the color and shaft were too similar to nutgrass. Got pretty demoralized yesterday morning. Resorted first time ever to dumping mulch after hand weeding on some bare areas. Need that C. albicans. But nutgrass in the prairie is something else
Once again your knowledge on Carex is priceless! I am converting my shaded lawn in front of my farmhouse into a Carex meadow in north central WI. Thanks to you I have several species. Carex albicans is blooming right now, and it is so beautiful. One of my favorites!
Thanks for your continued education on sedges. I added 400 sedges to my yard this spring after trialing the sedges in a small capacity. I like the way radiata and rosea lay down. Both are beautiful. Albicans and pensylvanica are must haves in the garden.
Thanks for bringing up how aggressive some native plants can be. Some of us have found that out the hard way. :) I love our pensylvanica and what we call the searsucker sedge. Both have beautiful, subtle spring flowerings. Albicans looks wonderful.
It’s so interesting how differently plants behave depending on the particular constellation of factors they’re living with. I planted a “pollinator patch” in the middle of my field with various rudbeckia, echinacea, native lupine, douglas aster, scarlet monkey flower, butterfly weeds and a few others, including 2 types of vernonia. Neither iron weed has spread underground or by seed at all. The Baldwin’s iron weed only sent up single stalk this year so far. It’s so odd. Conversely the Douglas aster & the monkey flower, both native here in Washington, have spread extremely aggressively. Perhaps they’re keeping the non-natives somewhat in check. I’m really not sure. But it’s a lot of fun to watch how the bed is evolving so far
It should be noted that Carex montana isn't actually from Montana. It's native to Europe, and while it's not listed as "invasive" in the States, I don't want folks to think it's a native plant because it shares a name with one of our great States.
Perfect timing, Roy! I hope to come down from the Fox Valley at the end of this week to get some carex. My sister and I have been "Dibliking" for about 7 years, and have trekked to Northwind at least 1x a year. (Thank you!) This year, I discovered your videos and can't thank you enough for the knowledge and joy that you share. You're really our mentor. In case you're not there....I need guidance on what carexes or other plants can handle being closest to the lawn turf. (Which is on the hwy and has quack grass to contend with.) It's a 50' border with the lawn, full sun, turf slopes down, so the bed is lower than the turf. Mostly amended clay, but there are still some areas with very heavy clay and a small corner of gravel at the driveway from hwy department work. Are there a carex or grass matrix(es) that could be created with good stewardship that could handle being next to the turf? I don't mind using the Dutch hoe along the border 1x a week, but if I don't HAVE to, all the better. I have more garden than we can handle, which is why we're changing the style.
Great video! Shared with my local garden lovers facebook group and finally came back to watch it all the way. Love all the great suggestions on how to use each carex
New to your channel and new to gardening in general but love love love your knowledge. Will definitely look into adding carex in my small suburban garden outside of Chicago. I visited Northwind last month and purchased 3 Ligularia Othellos. They are doing well. Only thing is I got scared after I planted them when I read horror stories about them popping up everywhere after spending a few years behaving well. One gardener showed a picture of his entire yard surrounded by these huge plants, all from just ONE original plant five years earlier. I searched online and no one mentions Ligularia as “invasive”. What are your thoughts please. Sorry this is off topic but I am rather concerned since I’m new at this. Thank you for reading.
Roy go glad to see you,… is there a carex for dry sunny areas, if not any suggestions ?:.. you seemed to have weathered those storms,..l was so worried. about you and yours!..
After listening to you thinking of adding carex as a filler to my 4 year old dry part shade hosta garden. What do you think, I love the idea of mounding type grassy texture amongst the hosta big leaves. What do you think? Would this work?
The Carex mentioned in this video won't do as well in full sun. Carex brevior, muskingumensis (w moist soil) and bicknellii are just a few that will do well in full sun.
