Re: [SG] ornamental grasses, Carex

Roberta,

Well,  I'm not Joe, but I love Carex.  I've got the following and highly
recommend them if you're in a climate zone that lets you grow them:

Carex morrowii 'Silk Tassel' - a clump former for  zones 5-9, for woodland
or dampish soil...quite a lovely, airy mound of very fine, narrow leaves
with a white stripe in the center...quite nice IMO...this one is fairly new
to me, only been in the ground one season.

Carex grayi - zones 5-9; moist soil in sun or light shade.  I haven't had
this one in the ground long, either - poor thing lived in a pot for a
couple of years before it got planted late last season.  it is also a clump
former.  Has quite interesting seed heads, like miniature brown maces used
in medieval battles - good for dried arrangements.  Anybody wanting seed
for a SASE, I've got some...write me privately - not to the list!  It
doesn't get as tall, I read, in hot climates.  Mine got about 18" or so
tall last year - has a sort of fountain habit.  Resents getting dry, when
the tips of the leaves will brown (I've found this out first hand).

Carex buchananii - zones 7-9.  Does better, I've found, in very good soil
remaining moist in half day sun.  Have some in deeper shade and clay soil
that does dry out sometimes, that doesn't do as well.  I like this one,
tho' some may think it just looks dead....I find the cinnamon color of the
foliage quite a nice color play with the red leafed Heucheras or the black
foliage of Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Arabicus'.  I have lost this in severe
winters, so it would be a better pot plant in colder areas.

Carex morrowii 'Aurea Variegata' - zones 5-9.  Has a very broad, deep
golden stripe  down the center of each leaf.  It forms slowly expanding
clumps that do quite well for me in all but the very deepest   shade.  I've
got a patch that's been there for upwards of fifteen years.  Started with
one plant and now it's an irregular oblong about 18" x 3'.  *Not* what I'd
call a fast spreader.  It's easy to divide as it seems to expand in clumps
that can be easily pulled off and reset.  Even the tiniest bit will take
root if babied in a pot for a while.

Carex morrowii albomarginata var. expallida - zones 5-9.  Is much like
'Aurea Variegata' except that it has a pure white variegation and the leaf
is shorter - it only gets about 6" tall or so.  It also expands really
slowly and tolerates a fair amount of dryness and more sun than I would
have thought.  It started out in the shade of a huge oak that had to be
removed when it suffered a direct lightening strike, leaving a bunch of
shade lovers in quite a bit of sun.  I love this one quite a bit.

Carex conica (both green and variegated) - zones 5-9.  Snagged several
small pots of this at a plant exchange last spring, so they haven't been in
my garden very long.  They are small, sort of mini, evergreen clumping
sedges...rather cute so far.  I read it prefers shade and moist soil, so
that's what I've tried to give mine.  Will be interested to see how they
fare.

Carex siderostrica 'Variegata' - zones 7-9.  Also a newcomer; just bought
it late last summer, so I'm not all that familiar with it or what it will
do once it's been in place for a while.  But, I was so taken with the leaf.
It doesn't really look like a Hosta, to me, but it's quite nice - and it's
variegated (I'm a total sucker for a variegated leaf).  Very broad compared
to most Carex and the form - so far - has been rather vase-shaped with a
graceful droop at the tips.  I'm just hoping it survives the ice we've had!
 Haven't ventured out to look.  References indicate it also wants moist
soil and shade to dappled sun.  I think this would make a nice companion to
a Hosta, especially one with a round or big leaf for the contrast.

I find Carex sort of like chocolate...highly addictive.  I haven't run into
your C. eburnea...do you know where there might be a photo on the web?

There are a lot of ornamental grasses and grass look-alikes for varying
degrees of shade.  When I did that series of articles on them last year, I
think I found just about all of them.  I do think that the degree of shade
makes a lot of difference, as well as where one is gardening.  Like many
plants, ornamental grasses can tolerate more shade in hotter climates.
I've had supposed sun lovers do quite well in rather open shade but very
little direct sun and have found that they won't do well when really
overhung by trees and shrubs.

One that I got a couple of years ago that is really nice is Milium effusum
'Aureum' - zones 6-9.  It seeded around last summer (with encouragement
from me...took the seed heads and shook them around) and I left a lot of
the seedlings in hopes of increasing my stand, tho' I understand they need
to be rogued as they don't all come true with the goldy-green color.  Nice
soft clump former; evergreen with the new flush of spring growth really
yellow (lights up that corner of the garden) - fades to a light chartreuse
in mid summer.  This does quite well in woodland shade - at least mine
seems to be happy under a high canopy of trees with only shafts of sun
penetrating at different times of the day.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
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----------
> From: Roberta Diehl <diehlr@INDIANA.EDU>
> Date: Saturday, January 09, 1999 9:23 AM
>
> Hi Joe, welcome to the list. You mentioned ornamental grasses. I am
trying
> to learn more about these--which species/varieties do you have? Do some
> ornamental grasses really grow in shade? (I gather your present front
yard
> is shady.) Do you by any chance also grow any Carex (sedges), which are
> traditional shade plants?
>
> I own a grand total of ONE sedge, Carex eburnea, and am starting to think
> of myself as a sedge collector.
>
> The new Naylor Creek catalog, which I was reading last night, offers some
> very interesting looking sedges; there is one called Carex siderostica
> with the varieties 'Island Brocade', 'Spring Snow', and 'Variegata',
> common name Broad-leaf Sedge, described as "an appealing ground cover
that
> resembles a hosta". Jack, if you are there, tell us more about these
> sedges. Do they like shade? Moist or dry? Do they really look like
hostas?
> If so, do they work as companion plants to hostas?
>
> >
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