Carex caryophyllea 'The Beatles'

Carex caryophyllea 'The Beatles' at Lovegrass Farm October 31

Carex caryophyllea 'The Beatles' on September 15 at Lovegrass Farm

Carex caryophyllea 'The Beatles' sends out a short runner and gradually forms a colony of mop-head foliage.  The clumps of dark green leaves give the appearance of a 1960's Beatles haircut.  It makes a hardy, deer resistant edging plant in moist areas in light shade to full shade.  It's mop like foliage swirls around on the ground below the crown and the height is only 3 - 5 inches (7 - 13 cm.)  According to Rick Darke (The Encyclopedia of Grasses for Livable Landscapes) the species caryophyllea is only hardy to Zone 7 so it is most likely a hybrid of Carex digitata and Carex ornithopoda.  Digitata is good to Zone 4; it would not have survived in our Zone 5 all these years otherwise.  Makes a great ground cover for a shady slope.  Unfortunately I don't have a photo to show you how it grows tightly together; these are of divisions made last Spring.