Gardening: The Carex plant is perfect for wet areas

With all the recent snow and ice and the soggy, boggy conditions left behind, you can end up counting the casualties of plants that you thought were hardy but have turned up their toes after the extreme weather. Gardeners are always on the lookout for plants that will reliably perform in our gardens as well as bringing life to a planting scheme. Here at RHS Garden Harlow Carr we have the added challenge of a very wet site, the giveaway is in the name ‘Carr’: it’s the local name for a wet place! Luckily, along with stalwarts such as willows and dogwoods that more than cope with our conditions, there are smaller border plants like Carex that truly shrug off the harsh weather.

Carex - or sedge to give it its common name - are often grouped together with grasses as they have a similar nature, bringing form, movement and lightness to a planting scheme. Their linear strap-like leaves can be variegated, stripy green or display colours that range from lime green through olive green to brown. Sedges are found all over the world in damp woodland, bogs, moorland and next to water, so are happy in the garden with moist but free-draining, fertile soil in full sun or partial shade. The red-brown New Zealand sedges aren’t quite as hardy but are also happy in sun or part shade as long as it isn’t too dry which makes them a great plant for a really striking container display.

There are some really good evergreen forms of Carex that are used to make eye-catching ground cover. Carex morrowii ‘Ice Dance’ with variegated white and green foliage or Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’ with yellow variegation will sit happily amongst perennials and light shrubs where dappled shade deepens the leaf colour. In winter amongst the coloured stems of dogwoods or willows they offer a welcome contrast of shape and colour.

My favourite sedge has to be Carex elata Aurea - or Bowles golden sedge - introduced by the famous plantsman the Rev E A Bowles, a Victorian plant hunter responsible for spotting many good garden plants still in use today. It just has the kind of star quality that makes it an almost essential plant in a planting scheme. It's a native semi-evergreen perennial sedge with acid green to yellow foliage that can even be planted as a pond marginal in full sun where the full light makes the leaves a brighter yellow. Out of the sun in a dappled woodland setting then the true versatility of this plant comes to light. After a cut back in early spring, the lime green, translucent, new leaf blades force themselves upwards. These expand to form a dense clump of gently arching leaves that have a narrow margin of darker green along their edge. In late spring and early summer the plant throws up flower stems that hold an unusual looking dark brown to black male flower spike above two or three green female flower spikes. The overall result is an elegance that is best contrasted against a dark backdrop or different leaf shapes. Place Carex elata ’Aurea’ nearby a dark planting like blue-leaved hostas or near black heucheras and not only does the lime green shine as the dappled woodland light catches an arc, but the flower spikes hold the gaze.

But now I’m really beginning to wonder? There is another lime green Carex that is tempting and it’s evergreen! Carex oshimensis ‘Everillo’, with its elegant weeping habit, could just be the one to bet on for a new planting scheme.

Jobs for the Week

• Sow annual flower seed for summer container displays

• Prune forsythias after they have flowered then feed and mulch

• Keep the lawnmower cutting blades high for the first cuts of the season

• Water bulb containers well now that temperatures are warming up.

DIARY DATES

Until 16 April: Easter Holiday Fun & the Lindt Gold Bunny Hunt

Hop down to the garden and join in the hunt for the Lindt Gold Bunnies. Enjoy stories with the mad-capped garden detectives, a daily Easter trail, Easter crafts and birds-of-prey demonstrations. Over the Easter weekend the Easter Bunny will be hopping by – joined by some real Easter baby animals. Normal garden admission.

3 April – 29 April: Bath House Gallery – Printing Showcase

Printmakers will showcase their work in Harlow Carr’s historic Bath House. Print work is growing in popularity, so make sure you pop by to see work by returning and new artists. Normal garden admission.

As the UK’s leading gardening charity, the proceeds taken from events and tickets sales at all RHS gardens help to fund the many activities undertaken by the RHS to promote horticulture and help gardeners. For further information on all the above events please call 01423 565418.

RHS Garden Harlow Carr, Crag Lane (off the B6162 Otley Road), Beckwithshaw, Harrogate HG3 1QB (if using Sat Nav use postcode HG3 1UE). Gardens open every day of the year, except Christmas Day, from 9.30am until 6pm (or 4pm Nov-Feb inclusive). Last entry 1 hour before closing. RHS Members (+ 1 Family guest) Free; Prices (excluding Gift Aid): Adult: £11.50; Child 5-16: £5.75, Under 5s: Free; Family: £29. Groups (10+): £9.50 Gardens: 01423 565418. Shop and Plant Centre: 01423 724666. Bettys Café Tea Rooms 01423 505604.

RHS Membership

Join the RHS at Harlow Carr and you’ll receive many exclusive benefits including: a monthly copy of ‘The Garden’ magazine; free entry (with a family guest) to RHS Gardens: Harlow Carr, Wisley, Rosemoor and Hyde Hall; free access to over 130 RHS recommended gardens throughout the UK at selected periods; free gardening advice; privileged tickets to world famous flower shows and much more. Call for more information.