Plains Oval Sedge

Sedges are not true grasses, but they can look a lot like them. Their great garden value is that while almost all grasses need sun and specific soil conditions, most sedges don’t. Perhaps the most adaptable of all the sedges is the Plains Oval Sedge. Got sunny, dry places? No problem. Dry Shade? You’re laughing. Wet areas in sun or shade? Ditto. By now you will have got the message – this sedge is incredibly adaptable to almost all conditions, from wet and occasionally flooded areas to dry, sparse soils in both sun and partial shade. Forming dense, grassy clumps about 12 inches tall, in spring stems rise up carrying the curious knobby flower clusters. This sedge sprouts early, and is great for filling the spacing around late-sprouting warm season grasses like silver grass. It also makes a very easy ground cover almost anywhere, and the perfect contrast for plants with larger leaves or colorful flowers.

• Upright dense clumps of leaves to 18 inches
• Unusual knob-like spring flowers
• Grows in virtually all garden conditions
• Grows well beneath trees and in woodlands
• Plant native to North America

The Plains Oval Sedge really does grow in all conditions, from full sun to shade and from dry soil to wet. It grows on alkaline soils and poor, hard and rocky ground. Pest and disease free, it is also untroubled by deer or rabbits. Best cut back to the ground in late fall or late winter, before the new shoots appear, and they come early. Otherwise no care is needed, and it doesn’t even need trimming if grown in a natural area. This is a North American native plant over a large part of the country, from Canada through all but the hottest states.