Schizachyrium scoparium

Schizachyrium scoparium: Prairie Tufts Tough Enough for Salt and Clay

Little bluestem is the original. Native, drought-proof and blue-green all summer, then it turns copper, orange and red and keeps that colour all winter like it forgot to take down the decorations. HOMEGROWN AND NOT SORRY.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Schizachyrium scoparium (formerly Andropogon scoparius)
• Common Name: Little Bluestem
• Height: 60–120 cm (2–4 ft)
• Spread: 45–90 cm (1.5–3 ft)
• Flowers: Fine, purplish-bronze flower spikes that become fluffy, silvery-white seed heads
• Bloom Time: Late summer into early fall (August to September)
• Foliage: Blue-green in summer, turning copper, orange and red in fall, with colour lasting through winter
• Features: Tolerates clay, salt and black walnut, host plant for skipper butterflies, Perennial Plant of the Year® 2022

Where to Plant: Little bluestem is a backbone plant for meadows, prairie gardens, pollinator plantings and naturalized slopes, and it adds fine texture to a border. It handles clay, road salt and black walnut, which makes it useful in tough yards. It can self-seed in open soil, so give it room to roam.

Companion Plants: Plant little bluestem in a dry, sunny native bed with sandy or lean soil and prairie wildflowers. Sisyrinchium angustifolium adds violet-blue stars at 15 to 45 cm from May to July. Asclepias tuberosa brings bright orange butterfly weed at 30 to 75 cm in July and August. Liatris cylindracea adds fluffy pink-purple spikes at 23 to 60 cm from July to September. Solidago rigida brings flat-topped yellow goldenrod at 90 to 150 cm from August to October.

Plant Care: Plant in full sun in well-drained soil. Sand, loam, clay and rocky soil are all fine, as long as water doesn't pool. It prefers lean conditions. Rich soil, fertilizer, shade or too much water make it flop. Water through the first season. Once established, it's very drought tolerant. It's a warm-season grass, so it starts slowly in spring. Leave it standing over winter for colour and wildlife. Cut it down to about 10 cm (4 in) in late winter or early spring. Divide in spring if the clump dies out in the middle.

History: Little bluestem is native from Quebec and Maine west to Alberta and south into Mexico, and was once one of the dominant grasses of the mixed and tallgrass prairies. Botanists moved it from Andropogon to Schizachyrium, and it was named Perennial Plant of the Year® for 2022.

Final Thoughts: Skipper caterpillars use it as a nursery, and the deer walk right past. Plant it in dry, salty, clay-filled spots. THE TOUGHEST LOCAL IN TOWN.