Growing Little Bluestem Grass: Tips at a Glance
Prairie grass little bluestem tolerates a wide range of soils including clay, but needs good drainage and cannot thrive in shade or wetlands.
- Type Ornamental grass
- Lifespan Perennial
- USDA Zones 3-9
- Light Full Sun
- Water Drought tolerant
- Foliage Purplish racemes
- Design Tip Meadow
- Companions Wildflowers
- Peak Season Red in autumn
Little Bluestem Grass: A Field Guide
A North American prairie native, little bluestem grass was once a common sight as it waved in the breeze to the covered wagon set, urging westward-bound homesteaders to establish farms and towns in the last half 19th century.
Nowadays the modest 18-inch-high clumps are useful in a landscape where you need to hold the earth in place. On slopes, the deep roots of Schizachyrium scoparium will help prevent erosion.
A quintessential meadow grass, airy little bluestem tufts also makes butterflies and birds feel welcome and is a happy companion to asters, Coreopsis tripteris, coneflowers, and other wildflowers.
Little bluestem grass earned its common name “rom a tinge of blue that appears at the base of its slender, flat blue-green leaves in spring,” writes our contributor Jeanne Rostaing. In autumn, it turns a “striking bronze-orange or even burgundy.”
If you’re designing a meadow garden, see growing tips for more prairie home companions such as black-eyed Susans, switchgrass, and penstemon.
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