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Greenlee and Associates

We're a garden design and plant sourcing studio renowned for creating stunning and enduring gardens.

25/02/2026

I'm honored to see one of my favorite gardens featured and written up in Gardens Illustrated. It was built around this beautiful oak tree, pictured just beside the house, however the tree has since passed. So we reinvented the space and it has perhaps become even more beautiful than the original, if I do say so myself. A garden is never truly finished. The key to a successful garden is to adapt, evolve, and reinvent.

17/12/2025

Carex barbarae

I’ve always wondered why Carex barbarae isn’t used more, because this thing is a native workhorse. It’s a true colony-forming sedge that shrugs at seasonal wetness and seasonal dryness. It can sit underwater for long stretches in winter and then get baked dry in summer and just keep going. In rich soil it spreads with enthusiasm. In heavy clay or sandy ground it’s a little more restrained. The leaf edges are a bit sharp, but when you need erosion control, bio-swales, or a rain garden that can take a beating, Barbara is indispensable.

In dry soil it stays around 12 in tall and in wet soil it can reach 2–2.5 ft. If you need to slow down its enthusiasm, just ease up on the fertilizer and water. It handles alkali, salinity, and even pure sand. Works beautifully with Muhlenbergia rigensor any of the taller flowering grasses that like their feet a little damp. The flowers are tan and nondescript, noticeable but never showy, which is just fine because you plant this one for its toughness and its ability to knit a site together.

If you’re working on a rain garden, stream bank, or anywhere water comes and goes, give us a call. We can help you source Barbara and build it into a planting that actually lasts.

14/12/2025

Carex texensis

Every designer has a few plants they reach for when they want something quiet and dependable, and Carex texensis is one of mine. It is a small clumping sedge with fine bright green blades that sit low and light on the ground. It never shouts, never misbehaves, and never asks for much. In the right light it almost glows, which makes it incredibly helpful in those dimmer parts of the garden where you need a little lift but not a spotlight.

It stays around 4–6 in tall and handles both heat and dryness far better than you’d expect from such a delicate-looking plant. I use it along path edges, in meadow margins, or tucked into the understory of larger grasses where it works as a soft green counterpoint. It is not a walk-on sedge, but it is one you can walk through, the way you might wade through a bit of ground-hugging green. Simple, steady, and endlessly useful, it is one of those plants that makes a garden feel finished without making a scene.

If you want to try this subtle little sedge or need help pairing it with the right meadow grasses, give us a call. We can source it for you and help you place it where it will quietly do its best work.

11/12/2025

Muhlenbergia dubia (Pine Muhly)

Let me tell you… Pine Muhly might just be my favorite Muhlenbergia to use. It looks good every single day of the year. It forms this easy, upright clump of clean green foliage, usually 12”-18” as tall as it is wide, and then sends up these see-through flower spikes that lift the whole plant to around 2’-3’. The whole thing ends up about as wide as it is tall. Those flower wands float above the mound like little brushes of cream fading to warm tan. They move, they shimmer, and they never get in the way.

Unlike its big bruiser cousin Muhlenbergia rigens, this one stays polite. Smaller, looser, more refined, and far more useful in the tight little drought-tolerant gardens we’re all building now. You can stick it in full sun or part shade. Use it in groups, in wide swaths, in borders or dry borders, or drop in a single specimen and watch it make friends with every colorful perennial around it. It’s one of the great all-around players. Native to the high deserts of eastern Arizona, New Mexico, southern Texas, and northern Mexico.

Go ahead and give us a call to get your hands on some. You’ll wonder how you ever designed without it.

08/12/2025

Carex perdentata

Texas has more grass species than any other state in the country, so it should be no surprise that Carex perdentata comes from there. It first came to our attention through the great Texas nurseryman Pat McNeal, and we’ve been using it ever since. The foliage has this chartreuse yellow-green glow that instantly lifts the value of a planting. It is heat tolerant, evergreen, and steady, with flowers that are noticeable but never showy. I use it when I want a groundcover sedge that brightens the darker corners of a garden. You can put it in full sun, but I actually recommend it for shade because that color really lights things up.

It is a clumping sedge, so I don’t use it as a walk-on surface. It is a plant you walk through, not on. If you want a creeping pathway companion, pair it with Carex leavenworthii for a subtle little gear shift underfoot. Perdendata holds easily to Zone 7 and probably colder. Tough, dependable, and often overlooked, it is one of those sedges that quietly does the job without needing applause.

If you want to bring some gentle light into the shady parts of your garden or need help figuring out how to blend clumping and creeping sedges, give us a call. We can source the plants and help you plan the layout so everything works together.

04/12/2025

Carex praegracilis ‘Chisai’

This little sedge fools a lot of people. Even though it carries the name Chisai, it does not behave like typical praegracilis. We think of it more as a clumping grass than a spreading one. It stays compact and close to the ground, which makes it incredibly useful on margins, in sedge meadows, and in all those tight spots where you want the look of a meadow without the risk of something running wild. In Japanese, chisai means small or tiny, and this plant lives up to the name.

It is right at home in parkways, along meadow edges, or in the small-space gardens where spreading grasses can be a little too enthusiastic. This one is gentle, steady, and well behaved. Short, tidy, and never bossy. The kind of sedge you plant when you want calm texture without a lot of commitment. And if you look behind it in the photo, that is Phleum nodosum adding a bit of contrast.

If you are working in a tight garden or need help choosing the right sedge for a small space, give us a call. We can source the plants and help you build a meadow that behaves exactly the way you want it to.

02/12/2025

Celebrate Cyber Monday by getting to know this little guy, Ophiopogon umbraticola.

Every so often someone hands you a plant that becomes a quiet obsession, and that is exactly what happened when Larry Lee at the National Arboretum sent us Ophiopogon umbraticola. It is a lovely low mondo grass with dark green foliage and a finer texture than the typical species. It spreads slowly and politely, forming these neat little tufts that never overwhelm their neighbors. And then in fall it gives you those big blue berries that sit right at the tips of the leaves, almost as if they were placed there by hand.

It lives around 4–6 in tall and I use it as edging in meadow plantings or along stepping stone paths where you want something soft and clean that does not compete with the larger players. It has this refined look that earns its place without needing to show off. Honestly, we think it may be the prettiest of all the mondo grasses, and once you start using it you will understand why.

If you want to bring a little polish to the edges of your garden or need help sourcing this hard-to-find gem, give us a call. We can track it down for you and help you figure out exactly where it will shine.

30/11/2025

Pennisetum messiacum ‘Bunny Tails'

Some grasses practically beg to be touched, and Bunny Tails is one of them. The flowers emerge like little rabbit tails, soft and irresistible, rising anywhere from 18 in to 3 ft depending on water, soil, and fertilizer. They start out this iridescent red-black and then shift quickly to warm tan as they mature. In full sun or light shade they catch the light beautifully, and in USDA Zone 7 and up they are surprisingly resilient.

I use it in groups as a flowering accent or even as a loose groundcover in mild climates. The foliage stays glossy green most of the year and often blushes reddish in winter, even in places that barely get cold. In harsher climates it goes partly deciduous but comes back with enthusiasm once warm weather returns. This is one of those plants that adds charm without trying and movement without effort.

If you want to bring a little softness and sparkle into your garden or need help figuring out how to weave Bunny Tails into a planting, give us a call. We can source the plants and help you place them where the light will do the work for you.

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