What Does Carex buchananii 'Red Rooster' Look Good With?

No, they are not dead.  The foliage is supposed to be that color.
Pardon the pun, but a local big box had C. buchananii 'Red Rooster' so very dirt cheap, I bought one.  I then remembered my vow to end the one-of-everything-personal-botanic-garden thing, and so went back and got four more.  Then the big adventure of tromping all around the garden under a hot sun, trying to figure out where to plant them.  What does C. buchananii 'Red Rooster' look good with?  One of my books said "pair with grey or deep green foliage".  Plenty of grey in the garden, but not much deep green.  I have a potted Ligustrum and Boston Ivy; everything else is either variegated or chlorotic.  With deep green Ligustrum.  Meh. 

With deep green Parthenocissus cuspidata.  Hmm.

Silver seems dramatic:

The true grey rather than silver Santolina seemed to work, too.

With a Gaillardia added in, a bit of a whispy prairie look.



The grey of Agave parryi truncata:

The contrast of wispy Carex texture with thick bold Agave.

Blue or lavender seemed even better than grey.  With the fat juicy fingers of Senecio mandraliscae:

With a dainty Lavender.

Agave 'Blue Glow':




Then I took a corn flower picture, for a moment the Carex quite forgotten.

Further distractions.  The Manfreda 'Spot' I finally moved to a better spot is looking like it will grow. Yay!  I'm so happy you are feeling better, honey.

And Alluadia procera.  I never take pictures of the Alluadia.  Why not?

What about bronze with brown?  The trendy brown foliaged Dahlias...

Brown foliaged begonia...

A deep brown Dyckia...

Kind of fabulous with Phormium 'Platt's Black', maybe?


If brown works, what about black?  With the added blue of annual Lobelia?

Is the Aeonium a bit too black?  What a somber garden that would make.  Santolina 'Lemon Fizz' to jazz it up? 

I'm being pulled back to lavender/blue again.  Clematis 'Perle d'Azur' looks good with everything.

So does Geranium 'Rozanne':

How about a paring with Perovskia, both backlit, both dainty?

And is a lighter green so bad?  The Carex seems to be conversing with Agave desmettiana variagata quite well.

And the combination with Silky Net, Calothamnus villosus, is intriguing.

Or is it? 

The sun was hot and I was getting overwhelmed, my brain even fuzzier than its normal fog.

Why not forget trying to achieve a stunning plant combination, and just stick the five Carex in the top of the pond's shower filter?  No, not in the white plastic buckets...that was just to keep whatever pesticides were sprayed on the Carex away from the koi while I took a photo.  That might be kooky-fun for a few weeks, all that bronzy stuff waving around there.  I'd have to rig up some kind of container for the Carex to make it work. 

While I was struggling valiantly to make the world a more beautiful place, the puppies ate more rubber garage door gasket. 

Vita brevis,

ars longa,

occasio praeceps,

experimentum periculosum,

iudicium difficile.

Life is short,

and Art long,

opportunity fleeting,

experience perilous,

and decision difficult.

--Aphorism attributed to the Greek physician Hippocrates.  He must have also been a gardener.