Maryland Native grasses for wet areas

Carex stricta – Tussock sedge

Carex stricta, known as Tussock sedge is a full sun to part shade species that thrives in sandy or mucky soil, it is also tolerant of intermittent flooding. It often grows around fresh-water marshes, swamps and bogs, and wet roadside ditches. The roots are dense, fibrous and rhizomatous which makes it an ideal choice for erosion control and an excellent addition to rain gardens. Additionally, this sedge has evergreen and elegant foliage that can grow up to 3′ tall and boasts gracefully-arching leaves that are fine-textured. This grass gets it’s common name from its natural growing habit; it forms dense tussocks (areas raised above the water line, in a marsh or bog, that are bound together by roots).

Not only will this plant help stabilize the ground, but it will also attract native wildlife to your garden. In the winter the foliage will develop a straw-like color, cut back in early spring for a tidy look. If grown under drier (yet moist) conditions, Carex stricta will take on more of a spreading habit rather than a clumping one. Carex stricta is valuable to wildlife because is a host plant to many species of skippers, moths and other insects.  It’s dense foliage provides shelter (and to a lesser extent food) for a variety of reptiles, small mammals and birds.