Goingnative Fraser’s sedge

doi:10.15406/apar.2016.04.00140

Advances in

eISSN: 2373-6402

Plants & Agriculture Research

Opinion Volume 4 Issue 3

Goingnative Fraser’s sedge

Barry Glick

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Perennial Plant Association, USA

Correspondence: Barry Glick, Perennial Plant Association, Sunshine Farm & Gardens, 696 Glicks Road, Renick WV 24966, USA, Tel 304-497-2208

Received: August 05, 2016 | Published: August 25, 2016

Citation: Glick B. Goingnative Fraser’s sedge. Adv Plants Agric Res. 2016;4(3):290. DOI: 10.15406/apar.2016.04.00140

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Opinion

Many years ago, when I was just getting my nursery off the ground, there was buzz about a very rare, very mystical, very difficult to grow sedge. Sedge like no other sedge, so different that sometime in the 1940s, it was removed from the genus Carex and given its own monotypic genus-Cymophyllus! Somewhere along the line, I was fortu-nate enough to barter with a colleague for 10 one-quart plants. They were immediately bumped up into gallons and placed out in the woods and forgot-ten about. Yes, I forgot about these “difficult” to grow, really rare plants. I forgot about them, not just for a week or two, or a month or two, or even a growing sea-son. I forgot about them for 10years! Now, in that decade of neglect, they didn’t put on much growth, what with no one providing any additional water during dry spells, no fertilization, no weeding etc. but, they did survive! Imagine my joy at rediscovering these precious sedges and at their still being alive. I immediately rescued them from their life of despair and reported my treasures in fresh soil. A hearty meal of 21-7-7 Peters Acid Special Fertilizer was much appreciated I’m sure. They were very happy. I was very happy. My wayward little plants soon filled their new home with roots, and it being spring, found a permanent home in one of my woodland trial beds. Boy, were they excited to get their feet into the earth with real soil instead of that com-mercial potting mix. In the following year, they doubled their size and flowered profusely in early spring. I collected the seeds, sowed them immediately, and was rewarded with nearly 100 % germination. The young seedlings filled 2" pots in one growing season and 4" pots the next. Meantime, many years later, the par-ent plants have octupled in size and are now surrounded by seed beds of many subsequent generations. Average size at maturity is about 24-36" and I’ve seen some individual leaf blades attain lengths of up to 24" long and up to 2" wide. The unique white flowers last for weeks and the entire plant is evergreen. I’m sharing this story with you to illus-trate how easy Cymophyllus fraserianus is to grow and to save you from being intimidated when you hear that a par-ticular plant is “difficult.” Cymophyllus fraserianus is the per-fect Hosta replacement for any native plant garden or any shade garden, especially if you have a deer problem as this is one plant that isn’t on Bambi’s menu or wish list(Figure 1).