(Everest Japanese Sedge, Everest Oshima Sedge, Japanese Sedge)

Japanese sedge is an evergreen perennial grown for its attractive, arching, grass-like leaves. The cultivar 'Fiwhite', known better by its marketed name of Everest, boasts dark green leaves lined with white edges. Flower-clustered panicles of tiny brown blossoms appear in late spring. This selection looks very much like a mounded clump of lilyturf (Liriope spp.) when not in bloom.

Everest Japanese sedge performs best in partial shade and moist soils, although it tolerates full sun as long...

(Gold Strike Oshima Sedge, Gold Strike Sedge, Japanese Sedge)

This small sedge is an evergreen, herbaceous perennial descended from a native of Japan. It grows in an open clump of narrow, arching leaves that are light green or gold, edged with thin green margins. Though some nurseries list ‘Gold Strike’ with grasses, mainly because of its grassy leaves, like most sedges it is more versatile than grasses, being tolerant of partial shade and evergreen. Remove the leaves in winter to tidy the plant before the new leaves emerge in spring.

Grow Gold Strike sedge...

(Evergold Sedge, Japanese Sedge, Oshima Sedge)

Japanese sedge is an evergreen perennial grown for its attractive, arching, grass-like leaves. The cultivar 'Supergold' has creamy yellow foliage with dark green margins. Panicles of brown flowers appear in late spring.

'Supergold' performs best in partial shade and moist, well-drained, fertile soils. Japanese sedges falter in soggy, waterlogged soils, unlike most other sedge species. This deer-resistant plant works well in the woodland border, as a groundcover, or in containers. Its showy leaves...

(Broadleaved Sedge, Island Brocade Sedge)

A creeping, deciduous perennial, ‘Island Brocade’ makes an elegant, glowing groundcover. A selection of a sedge native to Japan, it is prized for its low height and short, broad, variegated leaves that are lime green, edged broadly with creamy yellow. It spreads by rhizomes (underground stems) to form a broad mat. The leaves have fine hairs and are soft to the touch.

This sedge grows best in sun to part shade and tolerates almost any well-drained moist soil. It is a beautiful plant in a container,...

(Broadleaved Sedge, Lemon Zest Sedge)

A creeping, deciduous perennial, ‘Lemon Zest’ is a selection of a sedge native to Japan, and prized for its short, broad, bright, lime-yellow to chartreuse leaves that almost glow in shade gardens. It spreads slowly by rhizomes (underground stems) to form a broad mat.

This sedge grows best in part shade and tolerates almost any well-drained soil that is constantly moist. It tends to burn in full sun, even with regular watering. It is a beautiful plant in a container, by itself or as a carpet with...

(Variegated Broadleaved Sedge)

The broad, variegated blades of this showy, clump-forming sedge add elegant foliar interest to shady perennial gardens. The clumps spread over time and may also serve as an herbaceous groundcover. The arching, bright green blades have edges and random stripes of creamy white. In spring, they bear inconspicuous grass-like flowers. The leaves are fully herbaceous and offer no winter interest whatsoever.

Broad-leaved sedge naturally inhabits the montane forests of Asia, so it grows best in partial...

(Splitawn Sedge)

Native to dry soils in the northwestern U.S., this sedge grows in a spreading, cascading clump of narrow green leaves. Though it resembles an ornamental grass and is listed by some nurseries as a grass, it belongs to a different family, and like many of its fellow sedges, is more versatile than most grasses, being tolerant of both full sun and partial to fairly deep shade (even under trees) and most soils, including somewhat dry, moist and wet soils. In mild climates, it is evergreen. It is rhizomatous...

(Saguaro)

This genus contains just one very famous tree-like species, the giant Saguaro cactus. It is unique to the arid American Southwest and northwestern Mexico where it can be found widely scattered or in dense populations. Its massive size and familiar shape contributes largely to the character of the deserts where it is found, particularly those in Arizona.

Giant Saguaro columns feature up to thirty vertical ribs that act like an accordion, swelling in the summer rainy season then shrinking as...

(European Hornbeam)

A stately tree with muscular gray branches and trunk, the European hornbeam has glossy green foliage and produces interesting strings of lobed, yellow-brown fruits in fall. This tall, oval-canopied deciduous tree is native to much of Europe and eastward into Asia Minor.

The leaves are oval and have unequal but doubled rows of teeth on their edges. Veins are very depressed and the upper leaf side is a dull, deep green and undersides a lighter shiny green. These leaves are held late into fall and...

(European Hornbeam, Upright European Hornbeam)

A stately tree with gray branches and trunk, the upright European hornbeam has glossy green foliage and produces interesting strings of yellow-brown fruits in fall. This tall, oval-canopied deciduous tree is native to much of Europe and eastward into Asia Minor. Although named 'Fastigiata', the mature form of this selection is oval to pyramidal, not a tall, narrow, upright spire.

The leaves are oval and have unequal but doubled rows of teeth on their edges. Veins are very depressed and the upper...