Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda Bought a Sedge

Back in 2004, I was botanizing in rural Bienville Parish, Louisiana, where I ran across this fascinating narrow-leaf native sedge, a small piece of which returned home for trials. After six years of trialing, we named it Carex retroflexa ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (alluding to the location where the famous pair met their demise) and added it to our catalog offerings, where it sold a whopping 150 plants over a four year span, ending in 2013. The term “whopping” is used here as a point of sarcastical understatement. Not wanting to discard all of the unsold plants, we planted them around our new patio, where they were interspersed with Heuchera ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ and Penstemon ‘Blackbeard’. Here are a few images from that planting, taken this week. Maybe as the interest in carex increases, we can afford to offer this again.

Carex retroflexa ‘Bonnie and Clyde’
Carex retroflexa ‘Bonnie and Clyde’, Heuchera ‘Smoke and Mirrors’, Penstemon ‘Blackbeard’ (background)

9 thoughts on “Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda Bought a Sedge”

  1. Well, you have succeeded in getting our attention and I, for one, am now desperate to try some of this Carex. But, what?! It is not currently available! No ….. How cruel is that, especially in the time of COVID!?
    By the way, if it is anything like the wondrous Carex bromoides I purchased from you in the past, all I can say is wow! That incredibly handsome and well behaved sedge elicits compliments whenever people come through my garden (not many of late, admittedly) and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in carex. And even those not interested in carex. I urge others to give it a try.

  2. Anne Pfankuch

    If you bring it back, I will buy it! Love sedge, and find it easy to use in many kinds of gardens. I’ll watch for it.

    Anne

  3. I would definitely buy several of these – this is a very attractive, upright sedge with what looks to be a great color and growth habit. Hope you are able to put it back into your offerings this year.

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