Plant Library

Other Names:  Tufted Sedge, Bowles' Golden Grass

Description:

This sedge has spectacular bright gold-yellow foliage with thin green margins and is taller than most others; an excellent choice as a highlight plant for a shade or water garden; moisture loving and needs to be constantly wet or moist to thrive

Ornamental Features

Bowles' Golden Sedge is primarily valued in the garden for its cascading habit of growth. Its attractive grassy leaves emerge lime green in spring, turning yellow in color with prominent green stripes. The foliage often turns brown in fall. The tan seed heads are carried on plumes in late summer.

Landscape Attributes

Bowles' Golden Sedge is an herbaceous perennial grass with a shapely form and gracefully arching stems. It brings an extremely fine and delicate texture to the garden composition and should be used to full effect.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Bowles' Golden Sedge is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Groundcover
• Container Planting
• Bog Gardens

Planting & Growing

Bowles' Golden Sedge will grow to be about 18 inches tall at maturity extending to 24 inches tall with the flowers, with a spread of 18 inches. Its foliage tends to remain dense right to the ground, not requiring facer plants in front. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in moist to wet soil, and will even tolerate some standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in both summer and winter to conserve soil moisture and protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America. It can be propagated by division; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

Bowles' Golden Sedge is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. It can be used either as 'filler' or as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, depending on the height and form of the other plants used in the container planting. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.