Carex testacea 'Prairie Fire'™ - Qt. Pots - Flat of 10

If most ornamental grasses are green, this one burns. ‘Prairie Fire’ forms a graceful fountain of narrow blades brushed with copper, apricot, and ember-orange tones that intensify with sun and cool weather. In morning light it glows; in autumn it nearly smolders. Yet the texture remains soft and fine, never coarse or unruly.

Native to New Zealand, this sedge behaves more like a well-mannered perennial than a spreading grass. It stays in a tidy clump, moves in the breeze, and asks only for drainage and reasonable moisture. In the Southeast it is often evergreen, giving color long after flowering plants have gone quiet.

Use it where color is needed but flowers would feel busy — around stone, along walkways, or spilling from containers. Dark foliage plants make it brighter; silver foliage makes it warmer.

Name(s): Carex testacea 'Prairie Fire'™  

Flower Color: Not applicable

Bloom Time: Not applicable

Foliage: Olive-green to copper, apricot, and ember-orange tones in cool weather, grassy, arching.

Height/Spread: 18 inches to 24 inches x 18 to 24 inches.

Climate Zones: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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Sun Exposure: Full sun to partial shade.

Soil Condition: Well-drained, loamy, pH 5.5 to 7.0

Features: Graceful foliage, deer resistant, drought-tolerant.

Uses: 

Comments: A plant valued not for bloom, but for season-long color — a quiet fire that never needs striking.

Carex is known to host many butterfly species. Among them are Black Dash and Northern Broken Dash, several skippers such as the Broad-Winged Skipper, Dion Skipper, Dun Skipper, Tawny-edged Skipper, and the Common Wood Nymph butterfly. Host plants provide food and sheltered places for egg-laying.

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