Carex oshimensis EverColor Everlime - Oshima Sedge

Carex oshimensis 'Everlime' is a variety with a sparkling and luminous appearance, perfect for adding life to flower beds, borders, or containers on a patio or balcony throughout the year. With its free, slightly tousled habit and long glossy leaves with lime-green edges, it forms a small clump of intense freshness, like a true green mane that will bring style to any decor. Its autumn flowering is discreet, with small brown spikes. This false grass is easy to grow in full sun or partial shade, in any ordinary but moist soil.

Carex oshimensis 'Everlime' is a sedge belonging to the Cyperaceae family, and it is a cousin of grasses to which it bears a resemblance. It is a recent variety from the EverColor® series, developed in Ireland for over 25 years and awarded at the Plantarium in Boskoop, Netherlands in 2013. It originates from a very hardy Japanese botanical species, widespread in the rocky undergrowth of Honshu Island. This small herbaceous plant with short rhizomes forms a clump that is compact, light, upright, and gracefully trailing, reaching about 45cm (18in) in all directions. It does not sucker, but thickens year after year. Its linear, evergreen leaves are graminaceous and can measure up to 35cm (14in) in length. Their edges are tapered and their tips droop. The bright green colour of the leaves is complemented by a margin of a lighter, more yellowish green, which is wider when the plant is grown in partial shade and narrower in full sun. In autumn, short brown-black spikes measuring 1 to 3cm (1in) appear among the foliage on slender stems about 15cm (6in) tall. It is worth noting that this sedge from Oshima is very long-lived and will thrive for many years in the garden.

'Everlime' is a small, refined 'herb' with a neat style that will create a beautiful, gracefully overflowing bouquet of foliage in containers. Its design does not require the presence of other plants beside it, but it will complement its neighbouring plants and bring lightness to the lush foliage of rodgersias, for example. Its texture contrasts with that of fern fronds, and its flexibility complements the roundness of heucheras with fantastic colours and enhances the beauty of hellebores. As this perennial prefers moist to wet soils, it will naturally find its place in water gardens, along banks, or at the edge of a pond, where it will help stabilise the soil. Plant it along the edges of perennial beds. For a beautiful wild effect, plant it in groups in a contemporary or country garden.