Carex bicknellii - Bicknell's Sedge

Sizes available: HPP quart

Basics: zones 3-7, 1.5-3' x 12-18", full sun to light shade, yellowish-green flowers ripen to oval, coppery-brown seedheads, flowers in late spring to early summer, adaptable as to soil type, likes it medium wet to medium dry and has good drought tolerance. 

Common names: Bicknell's Sedge, Copper-shouldered Oval Sedge

Family: Cyperaceae

Origin/Distribution: Manitoba and Ontario through all the New England states and into north-central U.S. Native to Maine.

Habitat: Usually found on damp edges such as on rivers, lakes, and swamps, and low places in fields, meadows and open woods, but also occurs on uplands

More: The full sun image from Wikimedia Commons does not do justice to this sedge and its possibilities for your garden. 

Even more: If I could talk more gardeners into filling their spaces with Carex species, I would consider my life well lived. They are an excellent ground cover layer and there are species for every conceivable light and moisture condition. Some of them also make good lawn alternatives. They can be planted under trees, shrubs, and taller herbaceous layers, acting as living mulch, retaining moisture and suppressing weeds and looking good doing it. They offer top notch habitat for wildlife, providing shelter and food for birds, small mammals, and invertebrates, and acting as larval hosts for numerous species. Their fibrous root systems are good at holding banks, slopes, and edges. For the most part they are deer and rabbit resistant. And last but not least, they provide structural backbone - variations in texture, color, and rhythm - to your ornamental beds. 

Source: Prairie Moon as 3" plants, grown on at Honey Petal Plants

Image credits: Wikimedia Commons