Schizachyrium scoparium

Sizes available: #1 (Trade gallon)

Basics: zones 3-9, 18-30" x 18-24", full sun, the slender flower spikes emerges with a slight purple tinge that matures to tan in late fall and look beautiful en masse, the foliage is blue-green into fall and shifts from warm orange-bronze to tan as the plant senesces. Likes lean soil and is drought tolerant once established.

Common names: Little Blue Stem

Family: Poaceae

Origin/Distribution: almost every contiguous state in the U.S. plus northern Mexico, native to Maine

Habitat: sunny areas with dry, well-drained, lean soil: woodland edge, hillside, slope, prairie, plain, meadow, pasture, savanna, upland. In its natural habitats, it is often found growing with Andropogon gerardii, Sorghastrum nutans and Panicum virgatum as part of the tall grass prairie ecology. All of these grasses are also native to Maine.

More: A warm season grass and therefore slow to wake up. Small birds and mammals will enjoy the seeds. Provides nesting material as well as over-wintering habitat. Female bumblebees nest at the base of bunch grasses such as Little Bluestem. It is the larval host for numerous Skipper species including the Indian Skipper, Hesperia sassacus, and the Crossline Skipper, Polites origenes which are both native to Maine. Numerous other insects feed on it, too. The Perennial Plant Association chose this grass as its perennial plant of the year in 2022. This is an excellent ingredient for a summer into fall container planting.

Nursery: Landscape plugs from New Moon

Image credits: Wikimedia Commons (image taken at the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden); Frank Meuschke of Shelterwood Gardens