Nobby Club Rush

Nobby Club Rush (Ficinia nodosa) is the Australian sedge landscapers reach for when a site is genuinely difficult. It forms a tidy upright tuft about 70cm tall and wide, and it will take salt spray, drought, wind, frost and periods of standing water without complaint. Very few plants tolerate both a dry summer and a waterlogged winter, which is why it turns up on dune rehabilitation jobs and in council rain gardens.

Why you'll love it

• Wet feet and drought, both. It handles a swale that floods after storms and a bank that bakes dry in February.
• Built for the coast. Salt tolerant and wind tolerant, so front dune positions and exposed beachside blocks are no trouble.
• An Australian native that stays neat. The clump holds its shape rather than sprawling, so a mass planting still looks deliberate after five years.
• Frost hardy and low maintenance. One cut back every few years is genuinely all the care it needs.

Where it works best

Mass planting and groundcover. Plant 50cm apart. At that spacing the clumps knit into a continuous textured layer in two to three seasons without crowding each other into bare centres.

Rain gardens, swales and drainage lines. Its tolerance of temporary inundation makes it one of the safest choices for the low point of a garden that puddles after heavy rain.

Coastal gardens and pots. Use it on dunes and exposed boundaries, or as a single fine textured clump in a container where a strappy plant is wanted but a cordyline would be too much.

Growing Nobby Club Rush in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun gives the tightest, most upright clump; it tolerates part shade but opens up and leans. Suited to subtropical, warm temperate, cool temperate, Mediterranean and arid gardens, and frost hardy in cold districts.

Soil. Almost anything, from pure coastal sand to heavy clay. It is one of the few plants happy in both fast draining and periodically waterlogged ground, so no special preparation is needed.

Water and feed. Water weekly for the first two months, then only through extended dry periods. Feeding is optional: a light native fertiliser in early spring speeds a young planting along, but established clumps do not need it.

Pruning. Leave it alone for two or three years, then cut the whole clump back to about 15cm in late winter to remove tired growth. It reshoots strongly from the base. Growth is slow and steady, so patience in the first year is normal.

What to expect when it arrives

This one is grown here in a single size, 140mm pots in packs of ten, which suits how it is nearly always used: in numbers. Each plant arrives as a small tuft of fine green stems, roughly 20 to 30cm high, with roots already well through the pot.

Sedges travel well and take transplanting in their stride. Expect the clump to double in size across the first warm season and reach mature width in the second or third year. Plants are delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95. Every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Using ornamental grasses and sedges in a garden design
• Browse grasses and strappy leaf plants
• Compare coastal and salt tolerant plants
• What to plant in a garden that stays wet

Common questions

How far apart should I plant it?

Fifty centimetres apart for a massed planting, which works out at about four plants per square metre. Wider spacing leaves visible gaps for several years because it is not a fast grower.

Does it flower?

Only in a modest way. The flower heads are small brown knobs held at the stem tips, which is where the common name comes from. Buy it for the texture and the toughness, not the display.

Will it cope in a spot that floods?

Yes, within reason. It tolerates periods of standing water and then a dry spell, which is exactly the cycle in a rain garden or roadside swale. Permanent deep water is a different matter.