Carex muskingumensis Oehme

Carex muskingumensis 'Oehme' is distinguished by its foliage starting medium green in spring and then developing thin, yellow margins. It is a palmate sedge with leaves typically arranged radially and horizontally along long, flexible stems, making them resemble small palm trees. It thrives in rich, cool to moist environments, exposed to sun or shade, making it an ideal plant for pond edges or woodlands in natural-style gardens. It has a rapid growth rate. Once established, this sedge will form a lush cover along paths or in shaded beds, and will even tolerate temporary droughts.

Carex muskingumensis is a perennial gramineous plant, belonging to the Cyperaceae family. It is native to the woodlands and wet plains of the American Midwest. It prefers rich, cool to wet locations, even occasionally waterlogged, without preference for exposure. In hot and dry summers, it needs soil that remains minimally moist. Perfectly hardy, this semi-evergreen sedge tends to thin out during the harshest winters. It compensates by rapidly growing from spring onwards to adorn the garden with its beautiful foliage throughout the year.

The 'Oehme' variety is a mutation of the species, discovered in Wolfgang Oehme's garden in Maryland, United States. Smaller in size, it reaches about 60cm (24in) in height and 40cm (16in) in spread. It forms vigorous clumps, which are initially quite short, with ground-level foliage, followed by vigorous and erect culms. The stems bear abundant medium green foliage finely margined with yellow, which is more intense in summer. The leaves are flexible and slender, arranged almost horizontally and radially on the stems, which themselves end in small golden brown flower spikes in July-August.

This sedge forms a bushy, lush and sculptural clump that works wonders in clearings and woodland edges in natural-style gardens. Consider pairing it with Darmera peltata, large ferns like Matteuccia struthiopteris, and Japanese anemones. Its clump forms a dense and attractive ground cover, shining under rays of sunshine piercing the arboreal canopy. We have planted it on the bank of our stream alongside astrantias, astilbes, and hostas.