Grasses/Rushes/Sedges

A grass for your shady areas! Tolerates very wet soil. Plant in mass or allow to colonize for best show.

Prefers some shade and wetter soils. Can form dense clumps; spreads through long rhizomes. Browsed by deer; seeds eaten by birds.

Beautiful, tall, warm season, clump forming grass. Plant in poorer soils for shorter and more erect plantings. Hosts skippers. Can be aggressive.

Hardy, clump forming, warm season grass. Beautiful blue-green stem color with very interesting purplish seed heads. Host to skippers.

Annual, so allow to reseed. A nice grass-like feature for a wet area, like in or on the edge of a pond.

Needs wet soils; a good addition to a pond or consistently wet rain garden.

A shorter, cool-season ornamental grass that can tolerate more shade and has a wonderful texture. Host for the Northern Pearly Eye butterfly.

Makes beautiful stands of color in the fall and winter. Upright and clump forming. Can be used in rain gardens Larval Host for the Zabulon Skipper (Poanes zabulon).

Can be used as a lawn grass but must be in a dry, hot, full sun area. Don't water (other than right after planting to get the plant established). Spreads by runners to create a dense mat in the right conditions.

The thin blades of this plant make more of a statement when planted in mass. Likes consistent moisture. Spreads by seed.

A cool-season grass that grows in many conditions. Seedheads remain through winter to add winter interest to your garden and provide food for birds. Seeds well in disturbed soils, but may be pushed out by other species over time.

A cool season grass that looks similar to Festuca subverticillata but prefers more sun.

Can tolerate a wide range of conditions. Short, mounding sedge. Evergreen.

Tolerates many soil types, but leaves may turn yellow-green in dry soil. Can submerge in water garden pot or along pond banks but may colonize through rhizomes. Prefers some shade during hot summers.

A cool season grass with wide leaves and panicle seedheads, eaten by some birds. Can be aggressive in ideal conditions: moist soil in part shade.