Indiana Jones and the Treasure of New Zealand - Carex flagellifera

Legends abound of an ancient Polynesian treasure buried deep in the South Island of the fractured country of New Zealand. Here, the vast riches of the seafaring Maori were compiled sometime between 1250 and 1300 AD to safeguard from warring tribes. The 1600's saw the eventual introduction and settlement of Europeans who brought with them potatoes and muskets and set off the Musket Wars in the early 19th Century. It was during this time that the location of this famed wealth of treasure was lost, its secrets having been passed down by an elite family of guardians for over 500 years. Rumors of its contents and whereabouts are whispered of, but no explorer has ever uncovered the mysteries of the Maori cache. If there was a man who could find it, a man who could use wit and sarcasm interchangeably, a man who could swing in to risk life and limb in the face of almost any danger, save snakes, surely that man would be the great archaeologist of Barnett College, Dr. Indiana Jones. This is the story of Indiana Jones and the Treasure of New Zealand. This treasure is Carex flagellifera - the Copper Sedge.


This bronze treasure from New Zealand looks an awful lot like a grass; but it isn't. It's in fact a sedge. A simple explanation of the grass vs. sedge dichotomy is in the cross section of its leaves. If you were to chop a sedge blade in half it would create a nearly perfect triangle, rather than a sort of hollow tube or thin leaf blade you'd expect from a grass. A nice way to remember this is an old saying "Sedges have edges". Now a lot of people don't like copper sedge because it looks like perpetually dead grass, which I think is a load of phooey. Ornamental grasses are frequently planted primarily for their fall color, which a lot of times is a more bronzed or "dead" look. Clearly, these people make no sense, which is why Carex flagellifera, or "Indy Sedge" as I call it, is such an primo choice for the Garden Manscape. Rather than having only good fall color, this sedge will keep this same brown tone all year long. There is really no flower to speak of, so maintenance is non-existent. Use these high-arching clumps in mass plantings with other nice clumpers to fill gaps and help set off colors of its partner plants.


As a member of the sedge family (Cyperaceae), Carex flagellifera has a clump forming habit due to its spread through creeping rhizomes. This means these won't annoyingly spread seed all over the garden and make more work for you, since we know you're a busy guy and you've got things to do. It also means that they're another thrifty plant that can be split, or can be kept easily in check to make sure it doesn't take over too much space. So far, only good things. Sedges often like things wet, as a lot of 'em come from wetlands and the like. Carex flagellifera likes a moist habitat, but not quite "inundated wetland" conditions, so I'd rate their water need a little above "medium". This sedge also likes full sun to some shade, which, if planted strategically will catch the sun in the late afternoon, and make you understand why its considered such a Kiwi treasure. Expect a clump to get somewhere between 12-16" in height and fill nicely into whatever extra spots you've got in your Garden Manscape. Hardy to Zone 4 at least, there's really no logical reason not to get your mitts on some copper sedge.


Risking his life in the name of science and adventure, Professor Jones has delivered us a glorious booty from a land of epic peril. Having nearly lost his hat through the adventure, we as a horticultural community owe it to the good doctor to cherish this most inordinate gift. Consider your Garden Manscape as a museum of exotic plants, without the school buses full of gum-spitting, Hawaiian punch spilling children to muck it up. If a museum like that existed, that's where Indiana Jones would have kept his relics. Make a home for Indy, plant some Carex flagellifera, come up with snarky comments later.





photo credit:
1] http://spielbergfanclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Raiders-of-the-Lost-Ark-indiana-jones-3677988-1280-720.jpg
2] http://www.thompson-morgan.com/medias/sys_tandm/8796355952670.jpg
3] http://blog.oregonlive.com/hg_impact/2009/08/heathers-cover.JPG
4] http://plantsloves.cocolog-nifty.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/07/18/img_1486.jpg