Carex aren't strictly grasses — they're sedges, with solid stems and a softly arching habit. New Zealand has well over a hundred species, from coastal dunes to alpine herbfields, and that range is what makes them so useful in the garden. The favourites are prized for colour: the copper tones of Carex testacea, the bronze-red of Carex flagellifera, the blue-green of Carex trifida. All of them are tough, low-maintenance, and bring a fine texture few other plants manage in exposed sites. Others, like Carex secta and Carex virgata, are workhorses of wetland restoration and stormwater planting