Carex ‘Silver Sceptre’         Family: Cyperaceae
(KARE-eks  mor-OH-ee-eye)

Common name: Japanese sedge
Zone: 5 – 9
Height: 8 – 12 in (20 – 30 cm)
Spread: 12 – 24 in (30 – 60 cm)
Aspect: full sun; partial to full shade
Soil: average; well-draining
Water: moderate

 

Description: A short, evergreen, perennial grass with a clump-forming, slow-spreading rhizamous habit. White margins brighten the narrow (0.25 inch / 6.4 mm) green leaves. Insignificant greenish-brown flowers on triangular stems appear in mid-spring.

 

Special Notes: This grass has a preference for partial to full shade, although it will tolerate full sun if watered regularly. Given shade, it is drought tolerant once established. Evergreen in the warmer regions of its range but semi-evergreen in the cooler regions, and may go dormant in Zone 5 and lower.

In spring, cut back to 2 or 3 inches (5-7.6 cm) before fresh new growth appears. Spreads slowly to form dense, arching clumps. Drought tolerant. Deer resistant.

This cool season grass cultivar was presented by Dr. Masato Yokoi, Japanese variegated plant specialist, to the English grass collector, Roger Grounds. Plants Delight Nursery of North Carolina introduced ‘Silver Sceptre’ to North America in 1999. It is often labeled as Carex morrowii ‘Silver Sceptre’ but its connection to this particular species of Carex has not been confirmed.

 

In our Zone 7a garden: ‘Silver Sceptre’ is evergreen in our garden and looks lovely in the shady side of my front border under the towering chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) and silver leaf maple (Acer saacharinum) trees, providing bright spots of tumbling variegated strap-like leafy clumps.

 

Posted on August 17, 2012; updated on October 16, 2024