Description

A great lawn alternative for a dry shady spot! Penn sedge is a low, clumping, grass-like sedge with graceful arching foliage. Semi evergreen in moderate winters. Spikelets of yellow male flowers bloom above female flowers on the same flowering stalk, and look like little yellow Q-tips. 🙂

Brown seed capsules attract birds.

Prefers loose loams in dry soils in part shade. Unlike most other sedges that prefer moist to wet soils, this one likes it dry. Spreads by rhizomes and may self-seed in optimum growing conditions, but co-exists peacefully with other plants. May brown in heat of summer. Light foot traffic only.

Height: 0.5-1 ft.
Spread: 0.5-1 ft.
Growth rate: spreads 10-12″ in two years; 14-18″ in 5 years
Family: Cyperaceae
Bloom time: May
Sun: part shade to full shade
Water: dry to medium, well-drained
According to Rutgers University, Carex are “rarely damaged” by deer.
Ground cover, naturalize, rain garden

“Sedges have edges, rushes are round, grasses are hollow, straight to the ground.”

photo credit: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz