Carex appalachica

Carex appalachica: Soft Green Threads for Dry Shade

Appalachian Sedge has hair so fine and flowing it belongs in a shampoo commercial. Native, low and weeping, it handles dry shade under trees without a single bad hair day. NO CONDITIONER REQUIRED.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Carex appalachica
• Common Name: Appalachian Sedge
• Height: 15–30 cm (6–12 in)
• Spread: 25–45 cm (10–18 in)
• Flowers: Tiny, pale green spikes; grown for its foliage
• Bloom Time: Late spring (May to June)
• Foliage: Very fine, thread-like, arching green leaves in a dense, weeping mound
• Features: Butterfly larval host

Where to Plant: Use it as a groundcover under trees, along woodland edges and paths, or on shady slopes where it helps control erosion. Spaced about 30 cm (12 in) apart, it makes a soft, fine-textured carpet and a lawn alternative for low-traffic shade.

Companion Plants: Use Appalachian sedge as a fine, native lawn substitute under trees, with woodland flowers rising through it. Phlox divaricata opens pale blue woodland phlox at 30 to 38 cm in April and May. Cimicifuga racemosa adds white candle spikes at 120 to 180 cm in July and August. Eurybia divaricata brings small white wood asters at 30 to 75 cm from August to October. Solidago flexicaulis adds zigzag goldenrod at 60 to 90 cm from August to October, one of the few that blooms in shade.

Plant Care: Plant it in part sun to full shade, in average to dry, well-drained soil. Sandy, rocky or poor soil is fine. It does not like soil that stays wet or floods. Water through the first season while the roots establish. After that it handles dry spells and root competition well. Cut or comb out old leaves in late winter or early spring if it looks shabby. It forms clumps that spread slowly, and you can divide them in spring.

History: Appalachian sedge grows wild from Ontario and Quebec south through the Appalachian Mountains to Georgia, in dry, open woods and on rocky outcrops. Botanists J. M. Webber and P. W. Ball described it as a distinct species.

Final Thoughts: It hosts butterfly caterpillars, ignores deer and fills in where grass refused to grow. LET IT GROW OUT.