Here’s a recent image from JLBG, giving an idea of what’s possible when being thoughtful of textures and colors when planting. Plants include Iris x hollandica ‘Red Ember’, Heuchera ‘Silver Scrolls’, Carex ‘Bonnie and Clyde’, Thelypteris kunthii, and Juniperus chinensis ‘Parsonii’.
Carex conica ‘Hime’ has been in horticultural commerce for many decades, and remains a superb woodland garden sedge. The evergreen species Carex conica is native throughout Japan, where it occurs in woodland conditions. This variegated selection that goes by an array of names such as ‘Snowline’ and ‘Marginata’, but Carex conica ‘Hime’, which translates to “princess” seems to the the correct cultivar name. The tight 10″ tall x 20″ wide clumps of narrow white-edged leaves are topped with this fascinating floral show for us in early March. In 35 years of growing this, we have yet to see a single garden seedling.
Indeed the old proverb about a rolling stone is correct, but a stationary stone, especially in the water, gathers all kinds of amazing things. This rock in one of our garden streams has not only gathered moss, but several young maple trees, a carex, a couple of sanguinaria (bloodroot), and a handful of various ferns. Isn’t nature just grand if you stop long enough to pay attention.
Here’s a fun combination at JLBG this week with Heuchera ‘Smoke and Mirrors’, Iris x hollandica ‘Red Embers’, and Carex retroflexa ‘Bonnie and Clyde’. So many plants, so many fun combinations.
Just captured the wonderful gold-foliaged Carex ‘Everillo’ in full flower by our front grotto waterfall…what a great landscape plant!
Sweeping sedge is in full flower in the garden today. The North American native (Canada south to Florida and west to Texas) Carex bromoides swept us off our feet! This delightful small evergreen sedge forms a 6″ tall x 30″ wide, delicate-textured patch of green hair-like foliage. Although it prefers moist to mucky wet soil, ours has fared beautifully in well ammended compost. Carex bromoides is a favorite meal food for a number of butterfly and skipper caterpillars, wood ducks, grouse, and several songbirds, which in turn eliminates any need for fertilizers. We think you’ll really love Carex bromoides, either as a solitary specimen or in mass.
When we re-worked one of our recirculating water capture streams a couple of years ago, our grounds supervisor, Jeremy Schmidt, who coordinated the project, wanted to include an old buried log that he had found when excavating another part of the property. It took quite a few staff members to hand carry it and place it across the man-made creek where it resides today. Because it was hollow on one side, we filled it full of planting media and voila…a naturalistic vignette resulted. Here it is this week in the winter garden with several clumps of Carex oshimensis to echo the flow of the water.
Back in 2004, I was botanizing in rural Bienville Parish, Louisiana, where I ran across this fascinating narrow-leaf native sedge, a small piece of which returned home for trials. After six years of trialing, we named it Carex retroflexa ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (alluding to the location where the famous pair met their demise) and added it to our catalog offerings, where it sold a whopping 150 plants over a four year span, ending in 2013. The term “whopping” is used here as a point of sarcastical understatement. Not wanting to discard all of the unsold plants, we planted them around our new patio, where they were interspersed with Heuchera ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ and Penstemon ‘Blackbeard’. Here are a few images from that planting, taken this week. Maybe as the interest in carex increases, we can afford to offer this again.
Evergreen (and evergold) perennials are a great addition to your garden. They add texture, color, and form during the winter months when many perennials go dormant. Carex ‘Everillo’ not only adds texture and form with its thin leaves and weeping habit, but it also brightens woodland or lightly shaded garden with its bright gold color. Everillo also works well in planters paired with seasonal color such as pansies.
Carex Everillo’s bright gold foliage paired with Agave
Carex ‘Everillo’ holds its color brightest with some morning sun and pairs nicely with blue agaves and other plants with colorful foliage.
Carex Everillo’s bright gold foliage brightens the winter garden
Here is a picture of Carex ‘Everillo’ in our sales house ready to ship to you. We have extended our shipping until December 9, and you can also pick up at the Nursery, so you still have a chance to light up your garden or mixed planters for the holidays.
Carex ‘Everillo’ in our sales house – ready to ship to you