Fox Sedge
Carex vulpinoidea
Tight, foxtail-like seedheads on a tough fountain-form clump that handles flooding, clay, and muck. A workhorse for rain gardens and bioswales.
Typically 1 pint–1 gal · $9–$30 · final price at pickup
- Thu, Aug 138 AM – 4 PM
- Fri, Aug 148 AM – 4 PM
- Sat, Aug 158 AM – 2 PM
One of the most site-adaptable natives for wet, sunny spots. holds rain garden centers, handles flooding, and supports wetland birds.
Fox Sedge is a sturdy, adaptable sedge for consistently wet sites: sunny or partly shaded, clay-heavy or mucky, seasonally flooded or just reliably moist. The upright, medium-height clumps have a pleasant fountain form, and the densely packed, fox-tail-like seedheads in summer are distinctive and botanically interesting, clustered into a tight, elongated spike that looks nothing like a typical sedge flower. It's a workhorse for rain garden centers, stormwater bioswales, wet meadow plantings, and pond margins. Plant it alongside Soft Rush, Tussock Sedge, and Blue Flag Iris for a wet-site planting that handles inundation and provides continuous wildlife habitat structure through the season. Waterfowl, shorebirds, and songbirds use the seeds and dense clumps through fall and winter. Cut it back to 4 inches in late winter. In fertile, wet soils it spreads steadily by rhizomes. Divide in spring if needed to manage spread.
A nursery-grown plant, ready for the ground.
Healthy, container-grown fox sedge propagated on-site at Hill House from regional genetics. Includes a one-page care card. We make every effort to supply plants as listed; occasionally we substitute a similar species of equal value.
Plant fox sedge instead of Common reed (Phragmites australis), yellow flag iris (Iris pseudacorus). Same job in the garden, without the spread.
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Wet
- Mature size
- 1.5–3 ft · 12–18 in wide
- USDA zones
- 3–8
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- Native range
- Eastern and central North America, from Nova Scotia south to Florida and west to the Pacific; wet soils
Care notes for fox sedge.
Plant in full sun to part shade in wet to seasonally flooded soil. Excellent in clay. Tolerates standing water. Spreads by rhizomes in moist, fertile conditions. divide in spring to manage. Cut back to 4 inches in late winter. No fertilizer needed in wet, organically rich soils.
Pairs well with these.
Same light, same soil, same wildlife. Janet's picks to plant alongside fox sedge.
Or skip the guesswork.
Curated packages bundle complementary species for an instant habitat. One reservation, one pickup day, a printed layout map.
Short on Space Package
For gardeners who have an abundance of passion but are short on space, this package features tidy, upright, clump-forming natives that behave and function well in small spaces.
Shade Bed Package
Ferns, sedges, and woodland natives that thrive under existing trees.
Birder’s Paradise Package
For the avid bird watchers and budding ornithologists in our community, the Birder’s Paradise Package consists of species that Hill House Nursery staff and longtime native plant advocates such as Doug Tallamy consider ‘premier bird garden plants’.