Carex - Sedges
| There are both good and troublesome species amongst the sedges, so introduce Carex with caution. The most useful is the Tassel Sedge, Carex fascicularis. Although a marginal aquatic, it rarely enjoys more than a few centimetres of water, being much more content in very wet soil. A dignified native plant with heavy clumps of grassy foliage, it produces drooping spikes of soft green foxtail-like flowers during the summer.
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 The Tassel Sedge
Carex fascicularis
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| The Lizard's Tail Sedge, Carex gaudichaudiana, is a useful and interesting marginal plant which forms neat grassy clumps, up to 60cm tall, at the waterside. During summer it produces glossy black flower heads, each flower being bordered with green, giving the whole flowerhead the appearance of a lizard's tail.
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 Greater Pond Sedge
Carex riparia
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There is a dwarf bluish-gree foliage form, no more than 30cm tall, which comes from Tasmania and is usually sold as 'Bruny Island'. The villain amongst the sedges and the one which frequently finds its way into the sales tanks at garden centres is the Greater Pond Sedge C.riparia. This can be very invasive and cause all manner of chaos as it spreads rapidly and seeds freely. Its golden-leafed cultivar C.r. 'Aurea' is a good pond plant, being well-restrained and no more than 75cm tall, with really beautiful bright golden foliage. Likewise the green and white variegated C.r. 'Variegata', a well-behaved and invaluable inhabitant of the pond margins, although not yet widely available in Australia.
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All the sedges should be planted during spring and summer in either a heavy loam soil or an aquatic planting compost. Top-dress the compost with fine washed gravel to prevent the compost from dispersing into the water. Remove any faded leaves and during the summer feed with an aquatic plant fertiliser. Propagation is by seed, sown during spring in a tray of wet soil-based compost or mud, which is placed in a shaded cold frame, or by spring or early summer division.
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 Carex gaudichaudiana
'Bruny Island'.
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