Belinda's Find Hook Sedge

Belinda's Find Hook Sedge (Uncinia rubra 'Belinda's Find') is grown for one thing: colour from foliage rather than flowers. It forms an arching tuft about 35cm tall and 40cm wide in deep red bronze, holding that colour through the year and deepening in cold weather and full sun. Planted 30cm apart it makes a mass planting that reads as a single sweep of copper.

Why you'll love it

• Colour with no flowering season to wait for. The red bronze foliage is the whole display, so there is never a gap between flushes.
• Small and uniform. At 35cm by 40cm it repeats reliably along an edge or across a bed without any plant outgrowing the rest.
• It handles wet feet. Unusually for a coloured foliage plant it copes with damp ground, so low spots and rain garden edges are fair game.
• Coastal and frost hardy. Salt tolerant, wind tolerant and hardy through genuinely cold winters.

Where it works best

Borders and edging. Plant 30cm apart in a single line for a continuous copper edge that holds its shape without clipping.

Mass planting. The same 30cm spacing across a bed gives an even sweep of colour, at its best against grey stone, concrete or dark green foliage.

Pots, rockeries and damp spots. It suits a courtyard pot, a rockery pocket or a low lying part of the garden that stays moist, where drier plants struggle.

Growing Belinda's Find Hook Sedge in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun gives the deepest red; in shade it turns duller and greener. It suits cool temperate, warm temperate and Mediterranean gardens and is frost hardy enough for southern and tableland districts. Hot dry inland positions and humid tropical gardens are not its territory.

Soil. Not fussy about type, and unusually tolerant of wet ground. What it will not accept is prolonged dryness, so avoid free draining sand in a bed that never gets watered.

Water and feed. Keep the soil reliably moist, particularly through the first summer and in pots. A light complete fertiliser in early spring covers the feeding.

Maintenance. Comb dead leaf out with gloved fingers rather than shearing, which spoils the arching form. If a clump does become tired, cut it back hard in early spring and it will reshoot from the base.

What to expect when it arrives

It is sold in one size, a pack of ten 140mm plants, which is a practical unit for this job: ten plants run about 3m of single row edging, or roughly a square metre of mass planting at 30cm centres.

Each plant arrives as an established tuft. Sedges can look flattened or a little dry at the tips after transit, so trim the worst tips and water in well. Expect fresh growth from the centre within four to six weeks in the warm months. Delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95. Every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Read our guide to designing with ornamental grasses.
• Browse the full grasses and strappy leaf range.
• Compare options for mass planting.
• See other coastal and salt tolerant plants.

Common questions

Does it need a lot of water?

It needs reliable moisture rather than a lot of water. It tolerates wet feet better than most coloured foliage plants but dislikes drying out completely, so mulch well and keep it out of hot dry corners.

Why is it called a hook sedge?

The seed heads carry tiny hooks that catch on clothing and animal fur, which is how the seed travels in the wild. Trim the flowering stems off if you would rather not deal with it.

Will it hold its colour in shade?

Not fully. The red bronze depends on sun, and in a shaded bed the foliage turns olive and dull. Give it at least half a day of direct sun for the colour you bought it for.