Pacific Northwest Gardening: Mauryhill Photo Tour, 1 by

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Finally have time to catch up and look at this thread! Awesome shrub borders, Holly! And that 'Dark Star' is just stunning. Absolutely.. Would look great with tall white tulips if you could find some to bloom at the same time. Or white allium. You know me, always looking for plant combinations.

Before I forget, Tills,, you should definitely take Kayte up on the offer of the bronze sedge to go with the feather grass. The feather grass is absolutely my favorite grass because it is so graceful. I have many of them. I fear I may have too many but we shall see. The bronze sedge looks awesome with it and does not go crazy. The Carex 'frosty curls' is a bit of a seeder. I have not minded because I'm putting them between the large concrete stones in my little concrete patio. This year I moved 5 babies, so that's not really much at all and it's a totally worthwhile plant for texture.

The ice dance is a 'runner' type of carex (sedge). It's going to spread nicely if you give it good soil and plenty of water. If you give it marginal soil and less water it will be better behaved, but it's still a spreader. One good thing about it is the slugs don't touch it. The edges are too sharp. Here's a photo of where yours came from. It's around the edge of that bed. It worked well for 2 years and then, you know the old saying: First year sleep, second year creep, third year leap. By the third year it was too much maintenance to keep it contained. I dug it all out, gave a bunch away, and still have a goodly amount that I plan to let go a bit in the rear shrub border. It will keep the weeds down nicely and does not need grooming.