|
Carex elata ‘Aurea’
Bowles’ golden sedge
|
|
Image © Lynne Thompson/Great Plant Picks
Image © Richard W. Hartlage |
Printer-friendly Fact Sheet
|
|
|
| Outstanding Qualities |
|
This sedge has brilliant foliage – gold with green margins – that brightens partly shady spaces. The more sun it gets, the brighter gold it will be. Use it as a specimen in smaller borders or in a small grouping for bolder effect. Carex elata ‘Aurea’ makes an excellent container plant and thrives at the pond edge. This clumping sedge is well behaved in the garden. It grows equally well with hostas and ferns in the woodland garden or in full sun. For a striking effect, grow it with blue-leaved Hosta ‘Halcyon’ or Hosta sieboldiana ‘Elegans’. This sedge was discovered by English plantsman E.A. Bowles (1865-1954) in the Norfolk Broads, a damp region of England with lakes and navigable waterways. |
| Culture |
|
Grow Carex elata ‘Aurea’ in part shade to full sun, increasing moisture with increased sun exposure. It is drought tolerant in part shade and tolerates water-saturated soil. Because it is not interesting in winter, it is best cut to the ground in late autumn or early winter, once it has gone dormant. |
| Growing Habit |
|
This deciduous, perennial sedge grows to 2 to 3 feet high and wide. |
| Hardiness |
|
USDA zones 5 to 9 |
|
© 2009 Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden
Funded by the Pendleton and Elisabeth Carey Miller Charitable Foundation
Administered by the Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden