- Approximate height: 45cm (18 inches)
- Recommended water depth over crown of the plant: 0 - 8cm (0 - 3 inches)
- Flowering time: June - August
- Flower colour: Brown seed heads
- Supplied in the solid 1 litre pot we grow them in - for best results we recommend potting on using a 2 litre pot
This plant is a spiral form of the native British soft rush (the dark green rush commonly seen on wet ground around the UK). It has slightly glossy, evergreen stems that grow in coils, rather than straight as they do on the wild plant. Rather charmingly, even on the same plant, different stems have different degrees of spiral, ranging from a tight corkscrew to a loose wave. Quirky and very easy to grow, the plant has the advantage of being clump-forming rather than running, and is also one of the few evergreen pond plants. It's even sometimes grown as a houseplant. It produces brown seed heads in summer on the sides of the stems below the tips; these are not unattractive but are fairly insignificant. For the best appearance cut out dead stems as needed.
Juncus effusus f. spiralis won't seed everywhere but you will usually get one or two seedlings each year in areas around the parent plant. If you really don't want this, trim off the seed heads as they go over (i.e. when the stems they are on begin to turn brown).
If designing a planting scheme, we recommend approximately 2 Juncus effusus f. spiralis plants per square foot of ground, or 1 plant per linear foot of pond edge. Read more here on how to pot and care for your plant.