STOP Buying MULCH (Plant These Instead!)

Gone are the days of hauling in mulch every single year to cover the ground in between plants. Sedges are the heroes of the garden! If you are a native plant gardener or not, these low growing grass-like plants will fill your garden with beauty and nature. Wildlife like bees, butterflies, birds, and frogs will benefit from the natural covering of the ground, as the sedges act like a mulch layer. Your garden will be so much healthier adding sedges (carex) to your native or ornamental designs.

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Plants That Go Great With Sedges:

The Bee Balm Nobody Talks About
https://youtu.be/r804jGr9r5A

Native Plant Seed Haul

do you want mulch or do you want plants more plants in this video I’m going to answer the question what are sedges anyway why is everybody talking about them and how should I use them in the garden I’m going to explain why I think sges belong in every single Garden especially shade Gardens and more importantly how they can help us get rid of our addiction to mulch if you have shade or part shade sometimes it can feel like your options are limited maybe you were hopeful like me and tried to grow something that needs a lot of sun in a place that’s kind of part shade and it didn’t really do well where it was planted maybe there’s a ton of mulch and empty space around your trees because nothing really grows there that’s when we can start talking about sedges if you walk through a wetland or a forest you’re going to notice small plants that kind of look like grasses these plants are probably sedges sedges are a very important family of plants that usually grow in places where there’s a lot of water but they’re found in dry Woodlands as well they have grassy looking leaves and they grow in little clumps forming little patches on the ground sges look just like grass but if you take a closer look you’ll see that sedges have edges that’s kind of a fun way to remember them grasses are a little different cuz when you cut them they have a hollow stem and they have these joints but the biggest difference that gardeners need to know is that grasses usually need full sun which anybody knows if you have a shady area and you’ve been trying to grow grass there and you’re constantly working hard to try to keep it happy in the shade and it’s not grasses usually need full sun sedges are superheroes they even have little flowers They’re not as showy as the flowers that we’re used to thinking of in the garden they’re kind of small and just hidden amongst the leaves sedges are also known as the genus CarX which you might recognize from seeing some plants at the nursery car is a big group that has a lot of species in it so carrix or sge is just a general term for what we’re going to be talking about today I might use the terms interchangeably okay with that out of the way cars come in all shapes and sizes you can usually find a car for any area of the garden some have long skinny leaves and other other s have flat wider leaves some are perfect for wet locations and others do just fine in dry locations one of the issues that gardeners run into a lot is the dreaded dry shade garden we feel like nothing’s going to grow here in dry shade plants just have to be careful about how much energy they put into flowering as we’ve talked about before flowers are very energy intensive for plants so shade plants without the endless energy that they have from the Sun tend to have smaller flowers than full sun plants that doesn’t mean that flowers aren’t beautiful they’re just not as large and showy for example you’re not going to get like large hibiscus like flowers in the shade but one thing you can do with a shade garden is work with Beautiful Textures this is where sedges can really level up your garden they give you an almost magical looking backdrop to your garden throughout the whole season most sges are actually at least partially Evergreen when you pair fine sedges with plants that have large broad leaves it looks really cool let’s talk about mulch an important difference in gardening with sedges is that eventually it ends up eliminating your need for mulch this sge Matrix has become your mulch since sedges are so nice looking so green and fine they’re a fantastic plant for your flowering plants to play off of even during times of year where there’s nothing flowering the next spring when you realize you don’t have to spend a ton on mulch for your garden that’s going to be a good day if you want to give nutrients back to the soil you can simply leave last year’s sge leaves on the ground or you can chop and drop them that’ll let the nutrient cycle continue when you realize if you use enough sedges it completely eliminates the need for mulch people kind of overuse this term but I really think it’s a GameChanger and Native Plant gardeners aren’t the only ones doing this conventional and ornamental gardeners have realized that we were just really overdoing The Mulch I have a colleague that designs beautiful ornamental Gardens and she has gorgeous photos from her dry shade garden her designs really minimize the need for mulch over time so everybody’s kind of on bored with this we’re all tired of hauling in yards and yards of mulch every single year when you think about it do you want mulch or do you want plants if you’re enjoying the channel now’s your chance to subscribe so you don’t miss all the fun we’re going to have during planting season if you’re already subscribed consider becoming a member at my patreon that helps keep the videos going so I can make more videos about native plants SES also host insects and birds one of the reasons that I Rave so much about sges is that they’re really awesome for the ecosystem they they give shelter and food for insects and birds some of them even host butterfly caterpillars they provide food and home for so many Critters caterpillars munch on their leaves Birds use them as nesting material frogs and other animals hide underneath the leaves for shelter during the summer and winter sedges also attract pollinators like bees and butterflyes it’s kind of like a mini ecosystem all on its own they also work great together with other plants they’re basically a living mulch which means they play an important part in covering ing the ground most gardeners already know that it’s important to cover the ground and we’re going to talk a little bit about why when sedges are covering the ground they’re blocking the sunlight from hitting the ground and just baking it and drying it out this protects the soil life and the fungi from those harsh conditions but not only do they protect from the Sun they also protect from those freezing temperatures in the winter soil temperatures are a lot warmer than air temperatures when we get those Arctic blasts that make it really cold for a few days under the ground there’s insects in frogs that are hibernating over the winter the sedges act like a blanket insulating the soil from drying out when that dry cold air comes down from the Arctic every winter this next one is important in the forest as well as in the garden sades prevent weed seeds from sprouting most weed seeds need light to start sprouting and if a sedge is covering it the weeds don’t stand a chance we have big problems with invasive species and if a sge is covering up the ground they can prevent these invasives before they start this is really important important if you’ve recently removed invasive species that means that sunlight is now hitting the ground for the first time in years and those weed seeds have been waiting for that light sges can help prevent the invasives from just coming back right away or other opportunistic invasives starting to take over erosion and soil sedges are like the architects of the forest soil their roots are extremely fibrous and they’re so good at holding the soil together this really helps to prevent erosion if soil gets washed away by a heavy rain that is really bad for our ecosystem the soil ends up gone it starts polluting our rivers and streams sges are super important for keeping our soil and our Rivers healthy lawn replacement some companies have been doing some research on how to use sedges as a lawn replacement this is a great idea so far there have been mixed results I think the biggest issue is not that the sedges don’t look great because they do but they don’t stand up that well to foot traffic and most people want a lawn to function that way in their yard but if you don’t have to play soccer on your grass and you don’t have dogs that are going to trample it sges in shady areas could be a good idea to replace the lawn at least partially if you’re not using your lawn to play soccer and you don’t have dogs who are going to trample it I think maybe replacing some of your shade lawn with sedges might be a good idea you can mow them once or twice a season if you want but a lot of them just don’t grow very tall and really don’t need very much maintenance I think it’s a really underused idea that we don’t talk about enough which is replacing the lawn under trees with sedges we already know that the lawn really doesn’t like growing under trees sges and our native trees have a relationship that dates back millions of years if it’s under a tree and it’s not really a hi trffic area why not give it a try and replace the lawn in like a 10t diameter and see how it goes let me know if you’ve replaced some of your lawn with sges I’d love to see a picture now for the fun part we’re going to talk about the different types of sedges and how to use them in your garden I’m going to list five sedges I use in the midwest to create a beautiful and healthy garden most of these species are going to be native to eastern North America but if you live somewhere else you can definitely find sges that have these characteristics sges grow all over the world Europe Asia Australia I think there’s a sge in every location okay so full sun plants usually get all the attention so we’re going to start with the shade sges right now Rosy sge or Carrick Rosa this is a gorgeous plant beautiful fine texture it stays in a clump it likes medium to moist soil it’s really pretty um after it flowers it looks a little bit flat like somebody sat on it but it recovers really quickly it’s still worth it in my opinion it’s just such a fine textured plant I love carck fora the next one’s Pennsylvania sge carck pennsylvanica this is my standard go-to for shade and part shade it’s a beautiful tough plant amazing Roots this is a true Woodland plant it loves Oaks they’re best buddies it spreads gracefully and politely by ryom sailing in empty spots but it still plays nice with your other plants it’s very easy to control and because it spreads by ryms that means that you can really easily dig up the little Runners and plant more this one likes medium to dry soil this is not really for the rain Garden plantain sge carck plagia for some reason people don’t think of these wider leaves as attractive but this plant is tough as nails and it tolerates deep shade so if you have an area that is really difficult to plant things nothing grows there but hot says Tri plantain sedge okay now here’s a couple of sedges for full sun Palm sge or Carrick muskingumensis this one grows literally anywhere Sun part shade wet dry like it’s a really tough plant very successful it can spread a lot if you don’t watch it it’s usually about 12 in but I do have one in a rain Garden that gets a lot of sun and a lot of water and it’s about 24 in tall in the spring the dead material from the Palm sge will kind of lay down over your other plants so if you don’t want that to take take over get in a little bit early and cut that one back in the spring bur Edge carrick’s gray eye okay literally every single person every person who comes to my garden asks me what this is they’re asking oh my God what is that oh my God what is it everybody wants to know what it is and I say it’s bur Edge it’s a 10 out of 10 for cool looking it looks like a medieval weapon of some kind it’s a wetland rain Garden plant and it does tolerate some flooding it has these nice light green leaves and and just the coolest seed heads I’ve ever seen that is cool ducks and geese will eat the seeds again this is a wetland plant so it feeds birds that live on the water it’s barely rained at all this month and these grasses are just huge carrick’s gray eye graze sge and this is Palm sge you can see how my rain Garden looks when it’s a drought so rain Garden doesn’t mean it’s a wet spot where you breed mosquitoes it means when the rain comes these guys are going to be ready appalachin sge or carrick’s appalachica is that how you say it appal appalachica okay this one’s so cute it’s like a 12in round fine textured clumping sge this one can tolerate a lot drier conditions than some of the other sges this one can be out in the sun I love it because it’s small and cute it looks like a mini Prairie drop seed which is kind of nice because Prairie drop seeds can be like 2 feet in diameter when it’s mature so it’s kind of nice to have something a little bit smaller if you have a smaller space or you just need something uh of that texture Carri Albans I got to find out what the common name is for these this one is for almost full sun it’s a clumping sge that I love so much last year they sold out very early in the season there was just so much demand for this plant because of how beautiful it is and its versatility it can go in the sun a little bit more than the other sges it just got sold out so I’m waiting for the next season so I can get some for my garden this one’s fine textured it stays in a clump it kind of looks like carck fora but it can tolerate a little bit more dry a little bit more Sun than Carrick Rosa how do you find sedges yeah I mean that’s a really good question you usually have to get them from local native plant nurseries a lot of local nurseries are a little bit more Progressive now they realize there’s a demand for native plants so they’re starting to carry more of these items the one by my house actually has plugs but they also have gallons of edges which is really nice to see you know if you don’t want to wait for them to get big you can get a gallon last year my local Nursery had gallons of Carrick appalachica which I was really surprised to find in a conventional Nursery so these species used to be harder to find but now we have a lot of native plant nurseries that will ship regionally plan on getting one sge to fill a spot maybe 12 to 18 in across if you see sges at your local nursery and you don’t know if they’re native or not you can do a Google search for scientific name and bonap and that search result will usually show you a map of where the plant is native this isn’t a perfect science so don’t get bogged down why they found some in Milwaukee but they don’t have any in Peoria probably they just didn’t go to Peoria so they didn’t record whether the plant is native there plus it’s all corn now so just think of it as a tool to help you and don’t let it confuse you or discourage you spring cut back here’s some footage of me cutting back my sedges in the garden in late March for those of you who know what it means I’m in zone 5B so I just waited a day too long to make this video and it started snowing I cut them back at this time because I want to remove this dead material before they start to flower and leaf out you absolutely do not have to do this I’m just doing it for my own sense of Aesthetics so fight me in the comments I try not to cut too much of the green material you can actually see some flower buds there when we think of flowers this isn’t usually what we imagined but they are definitely flowering I will always use sedges in the garden they make everything look so much better they’re so healthy for the ecosystem and for the soil and if I never have to spread mulch again I’ll be a happy Gardener if you’re looking for plants that would go great with sedges I’m creating a playlist of plants and you can find them right here