Meet a Lawn Alternative That Works Wonders
Carex can replace turfgrass in any spot, is low maintenance and adjusts easily. Add its good looks and you’ve got a ground cover winner
Benjamin Vogt
12 May 2015
Houzz Contributor. I'm a big advocate for bringing the tallgrass prairie into our urban lives -- only 1% remains, making it more threatened than the Amazon rainforest yet also as effective at sequestering CO2. I own Monarch Gardens LLC, a prairie garden design firm based in Nebraska and working with clients across the Midwest. I also speak nationally on native plants, sustainable design, and landscape ethics while hosting online classes. I'm the author of A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future. In the coming years we want to restore a 40+ acre prairie and host an artist residency program.
Houzz Contributor. I'm a big advocate for bringing the tallgrass prairie into our... More
For a few years I’ve been experimenting with sedges, namely Carex spp; many of the species are native to the United States. Lawns and I are in a relationship defined by benign neglect and occasional full-on loathing, and sedge is a wonderful alternative for almost any location.
From a dry slope to shade, sun to boggy clay, hill to pond, you’ll find a sedge for any spot and design requirement. Did I mention some are evergreen and look stunning in winter? Or that they support skipper butterfly caterpillars? Many Carex are so darn adaptable, you can put them anywhere and they’ll adjust quite well. Miracle plants? Just maybe. They’re also irresistible to touch.
From a dry slope to shade, sun to boggy clay, hill to pond, you’ll find a sedge for any spot and design requirement. Did I mention some are evergreen and look stunning in winter? Or that they support skipper butterfly caterpillars? Many Carex are so darn adaptable, you can put them anywhere and they’ll adjust quite well. Miracle plants? Just maybe. They’re also irresistible to touch.
Here’s a Southern California front yard that gets some shade and is filled with clustered field sedge (Carex praegracilis). Tolerant of almost any condition, it is especially adapted to salt spray from the road — perfect for hell strips (or heck strips). It’s native to the West and the plains but has been introduced everywhere but the Southeast. This sedge is about 2 feet tall and wide and, like most sedges, grows in spring and fall while being green early and late, when most other plants are sleeping.
Muskingum sedge (Carex muskingumensis), also called palm sedge, is native to all of the Midwest. It gets to about 2 feet tall and wide, preferring sun and medium to moist soil (clay is perfect). It can take some shade and also some standing water. The seed heads are quite ornamental, as is the winter foliage. You can see here that its leaves are wider, and there are cultivars like ‘Oehme’ that have variegated edges.
Here’s a sedge that keeps its color even in snow (many do, but this one is especially good, I’ve been told). It’s long-beaked sedge (Carex sprengelii). It gets nice flowers in spring to early summer, like most sedges, and its leaves are a bit wider. In drier, sunnier spots, it might only be 1 foot tall, whereas in wetter or shadier spots, it could reach 3 feet tall. This sedge is native from the central and northern U.S. up into Canada.
Here’s white-tinged or oak sedge (Carex albicans). It’s native from the Eastern Plains to the Atlantic. Short at no more than a foot tall and wide, it is one of the most adaptable sedges. It slowly spreads by rhizomes — a bonus for difficult lawn areas or slopes. If you want a really carefree and low-growing sedge, try plains oval sedge (Carex brevior), which is native to most of the U.S. and can take pretty much anything at all (again, most sedges can, but some — like C. brevior — are even more suited to tough love).
If you have a low spot and like the look of oak sedge, try tussock sedge (Carex stricta). Native from the Central Plains all the way to the East Coast, it gets 1 foot to 2 feet wide and 1 foot to 3 feet tall — the wetter, the taller. The great thing about sedges in wet soil, even standing water, is that you don’t have to cut them down — in fact, you shouldn’t. Their old growth clarifies standing water.
How to Use Sedges
Sedges are versatile, fascinating, superadaptable and much-underused plants in landscapes. Some are wavy clumpers that soften hard edges.
Sedges are versatile, fascinating, superadaptable and much-underused plants in landscapes. Some are wavy clumpers that soften hard edges.
Or they can be used in a sparse or modern landscape en masse or in groups.
They can be used to break up a cacophony of flowering plants in a border or path either in spring or fall, or on into winter, when they keep their ornamental interest.
You can use sedge for a lower alternative to taller native grasses like Indian grass, switchgrass and bluestem, or as a more adaptable and carefree substitute to drought-tolerant shortgrass natives like sideoats grama, blue grama and prairie dropseed. Put a Carex anywhere, and it should do just fine for you.
More: 7 Low-Maintenance Lawn Alternatives
Is It Time to Consider Fake Grass?
More: 7 Low-Maintenance Lawn Alternatives
Is It Time to Consider Fake Grass?
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I have never mowed my carex, but I have some kind of tiny dark nearly black liriope that takes well to mowing. I think it will stand up to dog trampling. It spreads but not as much as its taller lighter green cousin. This stuff is all over my neighbor's yard and has wandered over here.
kurapia is also a wonderful alternative
One thing to keep in mind when planting a meadow or grass alternative is the depth of the roots. This topic never seems to be discussed, but this is of particular importance to me since I was planning to install a meadow over my septic system! This information is not easy to come by, and I was surprised to learn how deep the root systems of some plants and grass alternatives can go. For instance, the kurapia ground cover mentioned in a post to this article purportedly has a root system that can go as much as 10 feet deep (http://www.deltabluegrass.com/sod-products/kurapia) - not a candidate for over the septic! In many cases, the root system may not matter, but for those of you replacing lawns that may be growing over your septic system, care should be taken in selecting the plants.