Pennsylvania Sedge

The Pennsylvania Sedge is a plant that has gotten a lot of attention over the last few years, as it has been hailed as one of the best alternatives to traditional grass lawns.

While you can utilize the Pennsylvania sedge in strategic ways, such as up against a fence to create a border, or in other areas of a garden, they can be used across the entire lawn in replacement of grass. There are a handful of varieties of Sedge plants that have great potential to be used instead of grass, Pennsylvania Sedge is one of the most preferred options. Pennsylvania Sedge is similar to grass but is clumped into portions that grow to about six to twelve inches tall. The color of this type of Sedge is green throughout the Spring and Summer months but turns a shade of tan during the colder months. Sedge prefers to be in the sun for the majority of the day, but Pennsylvania Sedge will thrive, even if it only gets a handful of hours of sunlight per day. Depending on what you are trying to do with Pennsylvania Sedge, you will want to water it a bit differently. If you have created a Pennsylvania Sedge lawn, you are typically going to want to water the garden about the same that you would water a regular grass lawn.

The Pennsylvania Sedge is an excellent choice for an easily grown plant, owing to its ability to grow in average, dry to medium, well-drained soils in part shade to full shade.

When planting, give it a loose loam and either part or full shade, but shade with some sunlight coming through generally works best. While most sedge prefers wet or moist earth, this sedge is somewhat unique in that it favors at most damp, and usually drier, areas in which it can thrive.
Native to woodland areas of Central and North America primarily, the Pennsylvania Sedge can be found in both parts of the USA, and Canada as well. It very much enjoys the shade, but as stated, partial shade is best, though if planted in full shade it should still do quite well. Typically it grows in very loose “colony” style and exhibits a creeping pattern to its growth and its roots, which are reddish brown. Because it can often be seen alongside traditional oak, it is not uncommon for folks to refer to this plant as oak sedge, as well as Pennsylvania sedge. This sedge produces soft, delicate leaves. It is of hardy stock and maintains a semi-evergreen status even in moderately cold winter months. Inflorescence flowers bloom in late spring–usually May on the Pennsylvania Sedge.