The spiky seedheads and gracefully drooping stems of Hop Sedge provide texture to any garden, and food and habitat for birds and small mammals. Hop Sedge is so named because its seedheads superficially resemble the spiky fruits of hops, though they are not related and do not share any uses.

Hop Sedge is easy to grow in garden settings, as long as it’s in an area with enough moisture. Put it in lightly shaded, rich soil that holds moisture or in any soil in low areas that tend to dampness, or under a drain spout where moss grows. In full sun, put it next to a water feature such as a pond or stream.

Some sites suggest sedges like Hop Sedge for rain gardens. However, rain gardens are designed to drain very quickly, within 48 hours usually, and in between rains they can get quite dry. Thus they need plants that do well in both sudden wet and periods of dryness. Hop sedge may find the dry spells too dry. We would love to hear about your experiments with different sedges in rain gardens.

Hop sedge can definitely be used in naturalized watery areas that do not dry out as quickly as rain gardens, such as: the edges of streams, ponds, rivers, and wetlands. It's good for shoreline restoration as its rhizomes provide stabilization to soils.

Sedges are an important but often overlooked addition to gardens. Take a walk through any healthy wild ecosystem and you will notice sedges are everywhere! Mammals who use sedges as food include black bears who eat the seedheads and leaves, Eastern grey squirrels (this includes Ottawa black squirrels) who eat the seedheads, and meadow voles who eat the seeds, rhizomes and leaves. Wetland sedges provide food for the Sedge Wren, ducks, swans, shovelers, teals, coots, snipes, and sandpipers among others. Sedges in landbound areas provide food for songbirds.