Sedge 'Bunny Blue'
Carex laxiculmis 'Hobb' (Bunny Blue) · Cyperaceae
Wide, arching, silvery-blue blades in a low, tidy clump that keeps its colour in shade.
- Size
- 10 in tall, 14 in wide
- Zones
- 5 to 9
- Light
- Part sun to shade
- Flowers
- Grown for its leaves
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Edging
A bed built around sedge 'Bunny Blue'
The planner designed this bed around sedge 'Bunny Blue' when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) naturalistic planting in zone 6, part shade. It chose the other plants from the 513 that suit those conditions, and says below why sedge 'Bunny Blue' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Sedge 'Bunny Blue' × 7, blue-green leaves
- 2 Blue star creeper × 24, blue
- 3 Northern sea oats × 3, tan
- 4 Japanese anemone 'Honorine Jobert' × 3, white
- 5 White bleeding heart × 1, white
- 6 White wood aster × 3, white
- 7 Glory-of-the-snow × 5, pink
- 8 Fawn lily 'White Beauty' × 6, white
Why this plant
- The only plant grown for its leaves. Leaf lasts all season, where a flower lasts a few weeks.
- Part of the matrix. The low fabric of grasses and groundcovers that the taller plants come up through.
- Part of the bed's structure. Shrubs and grasses keep their shape when the perennials die down. So does northern sea oats.
Why here
- On the front edge. At 10 in it frames the bed without hiding it, and it is in leaf all season. It finishes 48% of the edge.
- 7 plants in 2 runs (5 and 2). Runs of different lengths make the edge a frame, not a ruled line.
Why now
- Here for its leaves, all year. They cover the 10 weeks between early March and late November when nothing on the plan is in flower.
- One of two evergreens. They are what the bed has to show from November to March.
Planned as a naturalistic planting: low grasses and groundcovers, the matrix, make up 66% of the planted ground. The bed is balanced: the left half carries 52% of the visual weight and the right half 48%. A cool scheme: blue, pink, tan and white.
The planner's own design check: 12 Excellent, 4 Good, 1 Satisfactory. It flags one thing to watch: Northern sea oats spreads aggressively. Each plant's details say more.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where sedge 'Bunny Blue' goes in a border
At 10 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is low (6 to 12 in).
Its job: edging. A low, neat plant used in short runs of three or five along the front to finish the edge (or, in a formal bed, in one even row).
A native woodland sedge with the blue of a hosta. Among the best low, blue foliage plants for moist shade, and evergreen in mild winters.
- Blue foliage for shade
- Native woodland edging
- Contrast with gold leaves
What to plant with sedge 'Bunny Blue'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Japanese forest grass 'All Gold': happy in the same moist soil.
- Foamflower: adds the flowers, late April to late May; spires rising out of its mound; happy in the same moist soil.
- Christmas fern: tall enough (20 in) to stand behind it.
Questions about sedge 'Bunny Blue'
Does sedge 'Bunny Blue' need sun or shade?
Sedge 'Bunny Blue' grows in part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun), part shade (2 to 4 hours of sun, mostly in the morning) and shade (less than 2 hours of direct sun, or bright dappled light).
It wants soil that stays evenly moist, of average fertility, and a good soak in dry spells. Once settled in, it stands drought.
What zones does sedge 'Bunny Blue' grow in?
USDA zones 5 to 9. It is hardy to zone 5, which means it survives winter nights down to about −10 °F (−23 °C).
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
How far apart should sedge 'Bunny Blue' be planted?
12 in (30 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 14 in (35 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 10 in (25 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many sedge 'Bunny Blue' plants do I need?
At 12 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 12 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 11 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 38 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as runs of three or five along the front (or one even row, in a formal bed).
In the bed above, the planner used seven in two groups.
Is sedge 'Bunny Blue' poisonous to dogs and cats?
No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to NC State Extension.
"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.
Do deer eat sedge 'Bunny Blue'?
They may. NC State does not list it as resistant to deer or rabbits. Where they visit, protect it, or plant it among ones they avoid.
What does sedge 'Bunny Blue' look like in winter?
Sedge 'Bunny Blue' keeps its blue-green and silver leaves all winter, so it is one of the plants that hold a bed together from November to March, when the perennials have gone.
Is sedge 'Bunny Blue' good for bees and butterflies?
Sedge 'Bunny Blue' is visited by butterflies and songbirds.
It is native to the United States (this is a named variety of the native plant).
More Carex
- Appalachian sedge Carex appalachica
- Blue sedge Carex flacca
- Blue sedge 'Blue Zinger' Carex flacca 'Blue Zinger'
- Bowles' golden sedge Carex elata 'Aurea'
- Bristleleaf sedge Carex eburnea
- Gray's sedge Carex grayi
- Japanese sedge 'Ice Dance' Carex morrowii 'Ice Dance'
- Leatherleaf sedge Carex buchananii
- Orange New Zealand sedge Carex testacea
- Palm sedge Carex muskingumensis
- Pennsylvania sedge Carex pensylvanica
- Sedge 'Everest' Carex oshimensis 'Everest'
- Sedge 'Evergold' Carex oshimensis 'Evergold'
- Sedge 'Everillo' Carex oshimensis 'Everillo'
- Sedge 'Frosted Curls' Carex comans 'Frosted Curls'
- Seersucker sedge Carex plantaginea
- Tussock sedge Carex stricta
- Variegated broadleaf sedge Carex siderosticha 'Variegata'
- Variegated Japanese sedge Carex morrowii 'Variegata'
In these guides
Every fact on record
- Type
- Grass
- Size
- 10 in (25 cm) tall, 14 in (35 cm) wide
- Plant
- 12 in (30 cm) apart
- Height class
- Low (6 to 12 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- None: grown for its foliage
- Leaves
- Medium texture, evergreen; blue-green, silver
- Shape
- Mounding, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 5 to 9
- Light
- Part sun, part shade, shade
- Soil
- Average, evenly moist
- Water
- Moderate
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- Comes from
- Canada, central and southeastern U.S.A
- Attracts
- Butterflies, songbirds
- Stands up to
- Drought, heat
Checked against NC State Extension and VASCAN (plants of Canada). Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.