Grasses, Sedges & Rushes

Showing 17–24 of 25 results

  • Luzula nivea Snowy woodrush 5-8

    Very unusual & ornamental grass. Dense Bone-white flower clusters in June-July. Evergreen leaves with hairy margins.

    $10.95/bareroot

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    Very unusual & ornamental grass. Dense Bone-white flower clusters in June-July. Evergreen leaves with hairy margins.

    Size: 24” x 24”
    Care: part shade to shade in moist well-drained to well-drained soil.
    Native: Central and southern Europe, Alps

    Named by Linnaeus in 1753.  Genus name Latin meaning “light.”  Nivea means “snow white.”  According to Liberty Hyde Bailey the flowers are “useful in dried bouquets.”(1933)

  • Melica ciliata Silky spike melic grass Z 5-9

    Ornamental arching white spikes, a fountain, from June through mid-summer.

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    Ornamental arching white spikes, a fountain, from June through mid-summer.

    Size: 2' x 12"
    Care: full sun in moist well-drained to moist soil.
    Native: Eurasia to North Africa
    Wildlife Value: Deer resistant

    Melica is Greek for “sweet grass.”  Collected before late 1700’s.

  • Miscanthus “Purpurascens” Flame grass Z 4-9

    leaves turn brilliant orange red, darkening to burgundy

    $12.75/bareroot

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    Flame grass starts in spring with a tinge of red in the leaves, increasing as summer passes.  By fall the leaves turn orange-red, darkening to burgundy by winter and retaining the color for months.  Tassel-like inflorescences appear in late summer, opening into creamy plumes by fall. It is compact, upright, clump-forming.

    Size: 3-4’ x 3-4’
    Care: sun to part shade in sandy to clay soils. Cut back in late winter to spring. Deer resistant and tolerant of Walnut trees.
    Native: Japan

    Miscanthus is Greek meaning “stem and flower.”  Miscanthus was mentioned in Man’yoshu, a Japanese anthology of poems written in the 8th century, where it symbolized the melancholy of autumn. This specific plant 1st described by botanist Nils Johan Andersson in 1855.

  • Miscanthus sinensis ‘Variegatus’ Striped Maiden grass Z 4-

    Vertical white srtipes on 4' arching green grass blades, inflorescenses coppery russet in fall,

    $12.75/bareroot

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    Vertical white srtipes on 4′ arching green grass blades, inflorescenses coppery russet in fall

    Size: 6' x 4' clump forming
    Care: Sun moist well-drained soil. Cut back in spring.
    Native: S.E. Asia

    Miscanthus is Greek meaning stem and flower.  Mentioned in Man’yoshu, a Japanese anthology of poems written in the 8th century, where it symbolized the melancholy of autumn.  This variegated form frequently used in Victorian bedding designs.  American garden cultivation since late 1800’s.  Recommended by Gertrude Jekyll, mother of mixed perennial borders, in 1908, for its “great white striped” foliage.

  • Pennisetum orientale Oriental fountain grass Z 5-10

    Showy, white to pinkish inflorescences summer thru fall.

    $12.75/bareroot

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    Showy, white to pinkish inflorescences summer thru fall.  Richard Darke, grass guru, describes this as “One of the most striking hardy fountain grasses.  Low growing, compact and exceptionally floriferous … Blooms over an unusually long period from late June through October”

    Size: 2' x 2'
    Care: sun in well-drained soil or moist well-drained soil. Deer resistant and drought tolerant.
    Native: central & SW Asia
    Awards: Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden Great Plant Picks

    The plant is named for its soft inflorescences; Latin penna and seta mean feather-bristle. This species collected before 1821.

  • Schizachyrium scoparium syn. Andropogon scoparium Little bluestem Z 3-9

    Wispy, feather-like seedheads atop blue-grey foliage that turns plum-orange-red in fall.

    $12.75/bareroot

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    Wispy, feather-like seedheads atop blue-grey foliage that turns plum-orange-red in fall

    Size: 18" x 12"
    Care: sun in well-drained soil.
    Native: all No. America
    Wildlife Value: leaves food for Skipper butterfly caterpillars and seeds food for songbirds

    First collected by French plant hunter André Michaux in America’s prairies c. 1790.  Comanche used it to remedy syphilitic sores. Lakota made soft, wispy seedheads into liners for moccasins.

  • Sesleria autumnalis Autumn Moor Grass Z 5-9

    Fresh-green spring narrow blades of grass in summer add airy purplish flower spikes with silver-white stamens on this low mounding, arching   grass. Blades have a striking yellow-green color that sometimes develops a soothing golden autumn tint.  Spike-like silvery flowers rise above the leaves and mature into soft tan seed heads by autumn.

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    $12.95/bareroot

    Buy

    Fresh-green spring narrow blades of grass in summer add airy purplish flower spikes with silver-white stamens on this low mounding, arching   grass. Blades have a striking yellow-green color that sometimes develops a soothing golden autumn tint.  Spike-like silvery flowers rise above the leaves and mature into soft tan seed heads by autumn.

    Size: 9-24” x 12-18”
    Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained to well-drained soil, drought tolerant
    Native: SE Europe east to Caucusus
    Wildlife Value: walnut, salt and deer tolerant
    Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit. Gardens Illustrated “100 Must-Have Garden Plants,” 2013.

    Collected in Slovenian mountains near Idria, c. 1760 by and 1st described in Flora Carniolica by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli (1723-1788) physician, naturalist and author. Sesleria is named to honor Leonardo Selser, 18th century Italian botanist and physician, contemporary and likely friend of Scopoli

  • Sesleria heufleriana Balkan Moor grass Z 4-9

    Spike-like panicles of white (in very early spring) turning purple atop clumps of gray-blue blades

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    Spike-like panicles of white (in very early spring) turning purple, atop clumps of gray-blue blades

    Size: 24” x 16”
    Care: sun to part shade in well-drained soil
    Native: open woodlands of Europe

    Collected before 1878.