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Carex leavenworthii
Lawn Sedge!
The recent drought we have had to deal with in Texas has put many of our standard gardening practices to the test. The heavy reliance on grass lawns has been most severely tested. The water needed to maintain a lawn when it is 100 degrees and dry as heck can become an economic burden. Yet most folks like the look of grass. So what does a lawn lover do? The lawn paradigm does not need to be discarded entirely it just needs tweaking and adjusting. For shady areas where the lawn effect is desired but heavy traffic is not a concern sedges make an excellent substitute. Another great thing about sedges is that the don’t need constant mowing. Just an occasional well timed trim (usually right after their annual bloom period in the spring) is all that is required.
Carex levenworthii makes a very suitable lawn-like effect when grown in mass. The evergreen, fine textured, thin blades create a nice, soft appearance and when grown closely together mimics a grass lawn quite well. The blades can get up to 6" long but usually are not held rigidly upright, so the effective height of a mass planting is about 4" tall. It is native to dry, upland conditions of the Texas Hill Country, so is very adapted to heat and drought. The plant is probably best adapted to part-sun and shade but can be grown well in near full-sun if given 1" to 2"of irrigation a month, in the hot growing season. Suggested spacing for a fall mass planting is 10" on center. C. levenworthii is a clumper not a runner but seeds out effectively to allow a mass planting to fill out quickly.
