Grasses, Sedges & Rushes

Showing 1–8 of 25 results

  • Achnatherum calamagrostis Silver spike grass Z 5-8

    graceful, tawny-silvery spikes on this clumping grass

    $12.75/bareroot

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    Gorgeous, graceful, tawny-silvery spikes on this clumping grass from June all summer

    Size: 36" x 36"
    Care: sun in moist well-drained to well-drained soil
    Native: Central & southern Europe

    Collected before 1750

  • Bouteloua gracilis Blue grama Z 4-9

    One sided, horizontal, purple tinged spikelets looking like a row of eyelashes, July-October

    $12.75/bareroot

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    One sided, horizontal, purple tinged spikelets looking like a row of eyelashes, July-October.

    Size: 2' x 12"
    Care: sun in dry to moist well-drained soil
    Native: all US except SE & NW, Wisconsin native
    Wildlife Value: Host for caterpillars of Green skipper butterfly. Deer resistant
    Awards: Great Plants for Great Plains Grass of the Year 2008

    For the Navajo this was a “life medicine” and an antidote to an overdose of “life medicine.”  Also used to cure sore throats and cuts – chew on the root and blow on the cut.  Navajo girls carried it in the Squaw Dance.  Hopi made baskets from this grass.  Zuni made brooms & hairbrushes from it.  Several tribes ate this & made bedding for their animals from this. Lakota children played a game using this grass: Most of the stems have two flowers on them. Children competed to see who could find the stems with three flowers, like finding a four-leaf clover. First collected for horticulture by Humboldt & Bonpland who scoured Latin America from 1799-1804.

  • Briza media Quaking grass, Pearl grass, Didder, Totter, Dillies Z 4-8

    Elegant inflorescences with dangling oat-like spikelets

    $12.75/bareroot

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    Elegant inflorescences with dangling oat-like spikelets in May.  Use for cut arrangements, fresh or dried

    Size: 30” x 10”
    Care: full sun to part shade in any soil. Deer resistant.
    Native: Eurasia.

    In cultivation since at least mid 1700’s.

  • Calamagrostis brachytricha Diamond grass, Feather reed grass

    Arching foliage with gorgeous upright plumes

    $12.95/bareroot

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    Arching foliage with gorgeous upright pale pink plumes September to November

    Size: 4' x 2'
    Care: sun to part shade in moist to moist well-drained soil. Deer resistant.
    Native: East Asia

    Collected before 1856.

  • Calamagrostis x acutiflora”Karl Forester” Feather reed grass

    Completely, reliably erect grass - winner perennial plant of year award 2001.

    $12.95/bareroot

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    Completely, reliably erect grass.

    Size: 3-5' x 2'
    Care: sun to part shade in moist to moist well-drained soil. Cut back in late winter.
    Awards: Perennial Plant Association Plant of the Year 2001

    This is a natural cross of Calamagrostis epigeos and Calamagrostis arundinacea, natives of Asia and Europe.  German nurseryman Karl Forester’s (1874-1970) keen eye spotted this in the Hamburg Botanic Garden.   He listed this in his nursery catalog in 1939.  Under Nazi domination he risked it all by keeping Jewish friends & workers. After WW II his nursery was the only perennial supplier in East Germany.  This grass sent from Denmark to the US in 1964.

  • Carex comosa Longhair sedge, Bristly sedge Z 4-10

    Ornamental dangling bottle brush spikes from May to August

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    OUT OF STOCK

    Ornamental dangling bottle brush spikes from May to August

    Size: 2-4’ x 2’
    Care: Sun to part shade in wet to moist soil
    Native: all of sub-Arctic No. America except western intermountain states and provinces and except Alaska.
    Wildlife Value: food for caterpillars of several butterflies. Seeds provide food for wetland birds

    Rhizomes stabilize shorelines while plants give ducks cover and the seeds provide food. Good rain garden plant.

  • Carex grayi Gray’s Sedge Z 3-8

    Cool club-like maces at the ends of stems- June to October

    $12.95/bareroot

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    Cool club-like maces at the ends of stems- June to October

    Size: 30" x 24"
    Care: Full sun to part shade in moist or moist well-drained soil
    Native: Vermont west to Wisconsin, south to Georgia and Missouri
    Awards: Great Plants for Great Plains

    1st described in 1835.

  • Carex rosea Rosy sedge, Stellate sedge PERENNIAL GRASS Z 3-9

    Mounds of thinnest of medium green leaves mingled with stems with star shaped seed clusters in May-June

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    OUT OF STOCK

    Mounds of thinnest of medium green leaves mingled with stems with star shaped seed clusters in May-June.

    Size: 12” x 10”
    Care: part shade and shade in moist well-drained soil
    Wildlife Value: No. Dakota south to TX & east incl. WI, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
    Awards: Great Plants for the Great Plains Grass of the Year 2020

    Collected before 1811.