Monarch Gardens
  • Home
  • About
    • What We Believe
    • Benjamin Vogt
    • Our Dream
    • Press
  • Design
    • Designing
    • Portfolio
    • Reviews
  • Classes
  • Speaking
  • Books
    • Articles
    • Books
  • Garden Guides
  • Workshop
  • Blog
  • community
  • Shirts
  • News
  • Contact

The Deep Middle


Gardening & writing in the prairie echo

A Shady Sedge Meadow -- One Year On

5/27/2020

10 Comments

 
You can have a lush, gorgeous, wildlife supporting garden in shade. You can have native plants and not just the default hosta or astilbe. You can have a low maintenance space that requires no fertilizer, no supplemental watering, and only one annual mowing. But you'll have to replace some of the plants that bunnies eat.

Below is a quick trip through one client's front yard makeover: how we did it, what we used, and what issues have arisen after one year. The space was installed in May 2019 while the after images come from May 2020.

This Lincoln landscape is in an older, urban neighborhood that's well maintained (from a traditional mow and blow perspective). The front yard has several mature oak trees that provide shade to 85% of the beds, except for one corner that gets a few hours of late afternoon and evening sun. In that corner we placed more sun-loving forbs.

You'll notice the white flags, which will be the path, and blue flags that show the edge of the main area. We hope to extend that area further down hill in the future and take out more lawn; as the client says, their goal was to have less to mow and provide more for pollinators (as well as have lots of sedge -- but we'll get to that soon). I was also convinced to leave a few of the hosta on site, and I'm glad I was as they aid in some first year texture until the new native forbs get established.

We spray killed the lawn to limit soil disturbance; limiting disturbance means fewer weed problems, and dead grass provides a weed barrier, erosion control, and a temporary mulch for the first year. I usually arrive about an hour before my crew to start laying out plants. In this case I had about a dozen forbs and five species of sedge. For the sedge, I interwove and interlocked large groupings of Carex albicans, blanda, brevior, eburnea, and radiata.  Each sedge provides different growth styles and texture, along with variable seed heads in early summer. Some of the shade forbs we used include:

Phlox divaricata (woodland phlox)
Aquilegia canadensis (wild columbine)
Geranium maculatum (wild geranium)
Anemone virginiana (tall thimbleweed)
Thalictrum dioicum (early meadow rue)
Solidago flexicaulis (zigzag goldenrod)
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum (calico aster)
Polygonatum biflorum (solomon's seal)
Asarum canadense (wild ginger)

The sedge has grown far more quickly than I anticipated -- partly because the soil is loose and rich, and partly because these species are adapted to shade. This good shade under oaks also increases soil moisture in the cool growing seasons (spring and fall) while keeping weeds down. Rabbits have gone after young forbs somewhat aggressively, so until those plants get established and start spreading, chicken wire cages have been employed. Other than that, the garden requires only an early March mow and no watering.

Can't have a meadow under mature trees? Sure you can. A sedge meadow.

10 Comments
Pamela
5/28/2020 11:05:13 am

Did you need to cage all the forbs or did the rabbits have a preference among them?

Reply
Benjamin
6/1/2020 10:54:34 am

The client has been doing this and keeping tabs on it, but I say it's hit or miss on any plant of any species.

Reply
Diana
6/1/2020 10:10:13 am

Very nice! I did not notice PA sedge, and wondered if you use it - or is it a bit too aggressive? Also wondered....where the sedges meet the path, is there a rhizome barrier or is that not needed? I have found sedges creep alot into paths!

Reply
Benjamin
6/1/2020 10:55:40 am

No edging and no pen sedge because it IS too aggressive (and too low) in this loamy soil. The sedge along the path are mostly C. eburnea and radiata, so they should behave. Eburnea takes a while to self so and get going and is very low.

Reply
Diana
6/1/2020 11:48:39 am

Thank you, Benjamin. I thought that might be the case with PA sedge....I wished I'd chosen something less aggressive in a couple of areas I planted it. I do really like C. eburnea - and also C. rosea, especially the star shaped seed pods of the latter. Love what you have done with the Carex blend and integrating forbs into it.

Kaela
5/6/2022 04:00:22 pm

Interesting. I am new to sedges and I didn't realize pen sedge was aggressive. Is it aggressive to the point of out compete other plants or just spreads vigorously?

James McGee
6/8/2020 10:34:41 pm

This is a handsome looking project.

Reply
md nahid hasan link
5/20/2021 10:49:09 am

Very good article, thank you for sharing important informations

Reply
Carolyn G
8/10/2021 10:10:03 am

Looks beautiful - curious what the ratio of carex to forb is? 80% carex 20% forb? Thanks!

Reply
Benjamin
8/10/2021 10:14:46 am

Something like that. Rabbits made the ratio more lopsided than I wanted, but also, we have some aggressive forb species in here, too, that will spread well over several years.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    About

    Benjamin Vogt's thoughts on prairie gardening in Nebraska. With a healthy dose of landscape ethics, ecophilosophy, climate change,  and social justice.

    Picture
    Online Classes  |  200 Articles

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017


    Original Archives

    1,257 posts from

    July 2007 - May 2017


    Garden Timelapse


    Subscribe

    RSS Feed


    Picture
    In a time of climate change and mass extinction how & for whom we garden matters more than ever.

    "This book is about so much more than gardening."
Picture
M O N A R C H   G A R D E N S   LLC

prairie inspired  design

Lincoln & Omaha, Nebraska

Monarch Gardens is a prairie-inspired design firm. We specialize in lawn to meadow conversions as well as urban shade gardens.

Employing 95% native plants, our designs are climate resilient, adaptable, and provide numerous ecological benefits while artistically reflecting wilder landscapes.
Sign up for our newsletter!
Join Now