Carex ‘Red Rooster’

Red Rooster is a New Zealand hair sedge with stiffly upright, coppery bronze-red blades, a color closer to a shorebird's plumage than to lawn grass. The clump reaches 18 to 24 inches and holds its bronze tone through all four seasons.

Grow it in full sun and well-drained soil; it is drought tolerant once established and needs little beyond an occasional tidy-up. The unusual color works hard when paired with silver, chartreuse, or deep green companions in containers and borders, where it reads as intentional rather than dormant. Comb out dead blades instead of shearing.