Woolgrass

Scirpus cyperinus

Woolgrass is the ornamental sedge for water gardens, rain gardens, and wet naturalized areas. In late summer and fall the seed heads develop a dramatic, fluffy, reddish-brown wool texture that gives the plant its name. each cluster like a tiny, airy pom-pom catching the light. The effect at a distance is a hazy, warm-toned mass that photographs beautifully and looks natural in any wet or pond-margin setting. It grows naturally along stream banks, in marshes, and at pond edges throughout the eastern US, and those are the conditions where it performs best. It handles standing water and periodic flooding without complaint and spreads assertively in wet, fertile conditions. which is exactly what you want when you're stabilizing a wet slope or filling a rain garden's wet zone. The tall stems and fluffy seed heads provide nesting material and seeds for multiple bird species through winter.