Carex bromoides - BROME-LIKE SEDGE
Non-aggressive sedge with tidy medium-sized clumps with groundcovering and weed suppressing growth.
Fine semi-evergreen leaves.
One of the top performers at Mt. Cuba Carex trials, gaining 4.6 points for shade use and 4.3 for use in sunny areas.
Blooming Time: April/May-June (flowers and seedheads disappear in the foliage later on)
Size: 0.75-1' high x 1.25'-1.75' wide clumps
USDA Zones: 4 to 8
Culture: half shade, dappled shade, shade, with enough moisture can grow well in half sun to full sun (but in full sun the centers become bare and clump has to be after several years divided). Medium most (average) to wet soils with some organic matter. Likes organic rich soils.
Moisture Needs: Average moisture (medium) to wet soils. Tolerates shorter term flooding and shorter term shallow standing water.
Origin: this native sedge grows in moist and wet habitats - in soggy woodlands, wetland margins, marshes, vernal ponds. Native to eastern half of USA (including the deep south and Texas), see the BONAP distribution map.
Deer/Rabbit Resistant: yes / yes
Black walnut tolerance: yes
Attracts Butterflies or Pollinators: attracts native butterflies. Host plant for caterpillars of butterfly Eyed Brown, and the caterpillars of several skippers Black Dash, Dion Skipper, Mulberry Wing, Broad-Winged Skipper. Moth caterpillars that feed on this and other wetland sedges include Ignorant Apamea, Tufted Sedge Moth, Virginia Ctenucha, Slant-Lined Owlet,Multicolored Sedge Miner, Pondside Pyralid Moth, Henry's Marsh Moth. Several leafhoppers (mostly Cosmotettix spp.), aphids and bugs can feed on this plant too as well as several semi-aquatic leaf beetles (mostly Plateumaris spp.) and several sedge grasshoppers (Stethophyma spp.) and others.
Attracts Hummingbirds/birds/other animals: no / the seedheads are consumed by the Wood Duck, Mallard, Black Duck, Ruffed Grouse (immature birds), Woodcock, and various granivorous songbirds / mammals can occasionally feed / Mammals - on the foliage, sprouts and roots occasionally feeds the Muskrat, while the Fox Squirrel and Gray Squirrel do consume the seeds (to a minor extent).
Plant combinations: Use this sedge as matrix plant, filler, or in masses or bigger groups, as a ground covering perennial, or as the lawn substitute. Best in shaded parts of rain gardens, moist spots, in difficult shaded and moist areas, sunken moist areas, along water bodies (streams, margins)
Great combined with many perennials in half shade or half sun with adequate moisture. With more moist soil goes well with Amsonia, Asclepias incarnata, Boltonia asteroides, Caltha palustris, Chelone, Coreopsis palustris 'Summer Sunshine', Eupatorium - better with shorter forms (including Eupatorium -Conoclinum coelestis), Euphorbia palustris, herbaceous Hibiscus, moisture loving Irises (I. sibirica, I. laevigata, I. pseudata, I. x lousiana, I. virginica, I. versicolor and others), Ligularia, Lobelia siphilita, Lobelia cardinalis, Packera aurea, Persicaria, Phlox maculata and Phlox paniculata, Physostegia, Primula, Sanquisorba, Senna, Zizia, and various ferns!
In half shade with average to slightly moist soil goes well with Hosta, Bergenia, Brunnera, hardy Geraniums, Heuchera & Heucherella, Mertensia, Tiarella.
Pot Size: square 3.5" x 4" deep pot
Pictures copyright: 1 - Herba Grara Nursery, 2 - US Perennials
Carex bromoides - BROME-LIKE SEDGE
Non-aggressive sedge with tidy medium-sized clumps with groundcovering and weed suppressing growth.
Fine semi-evergreen leaves.
One of the top performers at Mt. Cuba Carex trials, gaining 4.6 points for shade use and 4.3 for use in sunny areas.
Blooming Time: April/May-June (flowers and seedheads disappear in the foliage later on)
Size: 0.75-1' high x 1.25'-1.75' wide clumps
USDA Zones: 4 to 8
Culture: half shade, dappled shade, shade, with enough moisture can grow well in half sun to full sun (but in full sun the centers become bare and clump has to be after several years divided). Medium most (average) to wet soils with some organic matter. Likes organic rich soils.
Moisture Needs: Average moisture (medium) to wet soils. Tolerates shorter term flooding and shorter term shallow standing water.
Origin: this native sedge grows in moist and wet habitats - in soggy woodlands, wetland margins, marshes, vernal ponds. Native to eastern half of USA (including the deep south and Texas), see the BONAP distribution map.
Deer/Rabbit Resistant: yes / yes
Black walnut tolerance: yes
Attracts Butterflies or Pollinators: attracts native butterflies. Host plant for caterpillars of butterfly Eyed Brown, and the caterpillars of several skippers Black Dash, Dion Skipper, Mulberry Wing, Broad-Winged Skipper. Moth caterpillars that feed on this and other wetland sedges include Ignorant Apamea, Tufted Sedge Moth, Virginia Ctenucha, Slant-Lined Owlet,Multicolored Sedge Miner, Pondside Pyralid Moth, Henry's Marsh Moth. Several leafhoppers (mostly Cosmotettix spp.), aphids and bugs can feed on this plant too as well as several semi-aquatic leaf beetles (mostly Plateumaris spp.) and several sedge grasshoppers (Stethophyma spp.) and others.
Attracts Hummingbirds/birds/other animals: no / the seedheads are consumed by the Wood Duck, Mallard, Black Duck, Ruffed Grouse (immature birds), Woodcock, and various granivorous songbirds / mammals can occasionally feed / Mammals - on the foliage, sprouts and roots occasionally feeds the Muskrat, while the Fox Squirrel and Gray Squirrel do consume the seeds (to a minor extent).
Plant combinations: Use this sedge as matrix plant, filler, or in masses or bigger groups, as a ground covering perennial, or as the lawn substitute. Best in shaded parts of rain gardens, moist spots, in difficult shaded and moist areas, sunken moist areas, along water bodies (streams, margins)
Great combined with many perennials in half shade or half sun with adequate moisture. With more moist soil goes well with Amsonia, Asclepias incarnata, Boltonia asteroides, Caltha palustris, Chelone, Coreopsis palustris 'Summer Sunshine', Eupatorium - better with shorter forms (including Eupatorium -Conoclinum coelestis), Euphorbia palustris, herbaceous Hibiscus, moisture loving Irises (I. sibirica, I. laevigata, I. pseudata, I. x lousiana, I. virginica, I. versicolor and others), Ligularia, Lobelia siphilita, Lobelia cardinalis, Packera aurea, Persicaria, Phlox maculata and Phlox paniculata, Physostegia, Primula, Sanquisorba, Senna, Zizia, and various ferns!
In half shade with average to slightly moist soil goes well with Hosta, Bergenia, Brunnera, hardy Geraniums, Heuchera & Heucherella, Mertensia, Tiarella.
Pot Size: square 3.5" x 4" deep pot
Pictures copyright: 1 - Herba Grara Nursery, 2 - US Perennials