Sedges

I have been noticing more sedges (genus Carex) here at Habitat Home now that I am reading about them in a recently acquired book Field Guide to Wisconsin Sedgesby Andrew Hipp. Sedges have edges, grasses are hollow and rushes are round. This saying refers to the shape of the stem (culm) of the plant and is about as much as I know about sedges. Of course, as with all such sayings, there are exceptions. Sedges are an important part of all natural habitats so introducing sedges to any recreated habitat contributes greatly to the biodiversity of an area, but in order to do so one must be able to identify sedges. Many native nurseries are now offering sedges and even some regular nurseries are offering sedges for home gardeners because of the ornamental value sedges provide to a home garden. The Morton Arboretum is offering a workshop on sedges (June 17-18, 2010), which will be led by the Andrew Hipp, the author of the book mentioned above. I will be attending and if you are interested in recreating natural areas, I encourage you to learn more about sedges and attend the workshop.

If you get an error on the "workshop on sedges" link above, go to the Morton Arboretum site, click on "Adult Programs" in the Education tab, and then click on "Current Schedule of Courses..." link. This will give you a cookie that will allow you to successfully click on the workshop on sedges link. Bad peopleware.net!