PlantFiles: Leatherleaf Sedge
Carex buchananii

I have been raising a Carex buchananii/Leatherleaf Sedge in a large pot in The Owens Valley, California..high desert. This is my 3rd year with it and it just keeps on going and going. I have yet to make a trim on it, but will either ground plant it or add soil next spring.

Personally, I love the brown color.

This is an evergreen grass and does not need an annual haircut. In fact, it looks awful if you cut it back.

It is very shade tolerant, including dry shade.

Goin on year 2 and still looks great. Do I need to give this a haircut in the spring? If yes, how much and when?

Attracted by the color of this plant, I bought two of these in 4 inch pots two years ago. They have proved extremely hardy, surviving sub-zero temperatures in the winter, very hot summers, and my amateurish attempts to give them haircuts. They rebounded gracefully from everything and now each would easily fill a 5 gallon container. I have them at the edge of a mixed bed and they trail gracefully on the lawn, making a nice contrast Tan colored praying mantis seem to be attracted to this plant and "disappear" in them easily.

This is an acquired taste. Blades look beige year round. When the sun is low in the sky, though, in morning/evening, and fall through spring, the leaves glow with an inner red light. Really beautiful under the right conditions.

Should be grown as specimen, surrounded by a green groundcover, rather than a brown mulch.