Need a shade plant or a lawn alternative that deer won’t eat? George’s Plant Pick of the Week

Here’s PennLive garden writer George Weigel’s Plant Pick of the Week for this week:

* Common name: Cherokee sedge

* Botanical name: Carex cherokeensis

* What it is: Cherokee sedge is a foot-tall, gently arching, grass-like perennial that’s especially well suited for damp, shady spots.

Native to the southern United States, it produces tan, wheat-like seedheads in mid-spring, and the dark-green blades keep their color throughout most winters.

Cherokee sedge is also adaptable enough that it’ll grow in sunnier sites (especially if kept damp), and it has the added benefit of hardly ever being eaten by deer.

This particular sedge tests out as one of the strongest performers of the large sedge family as it tied for the best variety in the shade out of 70 sedges trialed at Mount Cuba Cen