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Ornamental Grasses

Help with ID on variegated grass or sedge

Dillybeansown (6b in the Ozarks)

5 years ago

I got this grassy plant at a local botanical garden sale. It had no ID, but was pretty and free so I picked it up. Before I plant it, though, I’d like to have a general idea of what it is. The main thing I’d like to know is how much and how fast will it spread? this will have a huge impact on if/where I plant it.

Anyone have have any ideas? It’s pretty drough tolerant, only 4-6” high, no seed heads this year all summer out of about 8 clumps. Seems to be a clumper, although it *might* have short rhizomes. Real pretty, somewhat stiff blades. It sort of reminds me of a sedge I have, so I’m wondering if this is a possibility.

Any help would be appreciaed! :) Thanks!

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Dillybeansown (6b in the Ozarks)
Original Author

5 years ago

Update, in case the information is useful to anyone in future: found the plant list from the garden sale. This was indeed a variegated Carex, variety unspecified.

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Comments (6)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
5 years ago
Looks like variegated liriope. So neither a grass nor a sedge :-)
Dillybeansown (6b in the Ozarks)
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks for the suggestion! Definitely not liriope. I love that stuff, and have quite a bit of the variegated sort. I agree the pics look sort of like it. I’ll try to get better ones tomorrow.

This “grass” is much finer. You know how liriope has almost a leathery texture? These blades are papery thin. And only about 1/4” wide, if that.

The roots are hairy and fine, not at all like the wiry orange roots of liriope. Pulling apart a clump is easy-peasy. It almost falls apart. Vs the “I need wire cutters to divide” liriope. This “grass” doesn’t form the thick, fleshy root chunk that liriope does.

lol. sorry to harp on the differences. That just gave me an excellent comparison point to describe it. Thanks :)
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I think sedge too. Pull one and look at the main stem. Is is triangular? Growing leaves in roughly three different directions? (grasses grow leaves opposite one another, sedges grow them roughly 120 degrees from each other, hence the triangular stems.) Are the leaves shiny and waxy? If so it is almost without a doubt nutsedge. Put more simply, if the stem is triangular it is a sedge, and not a grass, and the only thing you need to figure out is what sedge, exactly, it is. But still if the stem is triangular and it is growing in your lawn it is probably some variety of nutsedge. Which is a problem, because these weeds grow underground storage systems (nuts - hence the name) to help them rejuvenate after you pull them. So to get rid of them you have to either pull them like every other day for a year, or apply a product like Sedgehammer. MSMA also has an effect on them, but it is relatively mild and not nearly as effective as the more expensive and harder to find sedgehammer.
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debbiecz3
5 years ago
Compare to carex "Ice Dance"; looks similar.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
5 years ago
That is not 'Ice Dance'. That is much taller than 4-6", has wider (1/2") and quite fleshy, stiff leaves and the variegation is very pronunced - solid green with narrow white margins.
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My first thought was also that of carex.

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