Master Gardener Ann Bartlett points out good, bad, and ugly truths about sedge in the garden.
When we began planting some shade lovers under the canopy of the grove of trees dominating our backyard, getting rid of the weeds was job one. Marinated in mosquito repellant, I spent many an arduous hour rooting out privet, briars, and brambles.
I decided to use Ortho Grass B Gon Garden Grass Killer on what little was growing in the shade. Wouldn’t you know, it had no effect! I would have thought I had a bad bottle of the stuff, but it did a great job on some pesky Bermuda grass that invaded my ground covers.
That was my first clue. These green things just look like grass, but in reality, they are sedges.
Members of the Carex clan, sedges are grasslike plants that bloom on triangular rather than round stems. They reproduce by rhizomes as well as from seed. Tolerant of moist conditions, they are found throughout the temperate and colder regions of the world.
Shade-Tolerant Sedges
Several sedges are native to our area. You can use them to create a low maintenance lawn-like look in the shade. Blue sedge, palm sedge, mace sedge, and Appalachian sedge are all attractive options. Since I learned to tell them apart from weedy grasses, I have come to appreciate their carefree presence in naturalized areas.
Sedges in the Sun
An abundance of yellow nutsedge invades sunnier areas of my landscape. Eradicating this invasive weed is a career opportunity. It grows from tubers buried eight to fourteen inches in the earth.
When the gardener pulls one out, the plant releases a hormone signaling the next rhizome (a.k.a. nut) to sprout. This is a terrific defense against grazing animals as well as zealous gardeners. In the case of nutsedge, hand-to-weed combat is a stop-gap measure at best.
A selective herbicide like SedgeHammer promises to kill it completely. It works, but slowly. The patches growing in my ornamentals took a month to die.
Unfortunately, more patches keep popping up, necessitating more spraying. I have removed nutsedge blooms to prevent nutsedge from going to seed. In the end, I had to dig the remaining nutsedge out in order to plant spring bulbs and tidy up for winter.
Weed control is an ongoing battle for gardeners. I do appreciate having an array of tools available to combat them.