The Blues Little Bluestem Grass
Schizachyrium scoparium ‘The Blues’
Plant Details
USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 3a-9b Find Your Zone
Plant Type: Ornamental Grass
Height at Maturity: 3-4’
Width at Maturity: 1.5 -2′
Spacing: 18″ for mass plantings, 4’+ for space between plants
Spacing: 18″ for mass plantings, 4’+ for space between plants
Growth Habit / Form: Clumping, Upright
Growth Rate: Moderate to Fast
Flower Color: White seed heads
Flower Size: Small in thin vertical seed heads
Flowering Period: Mid-Summer through Winter
Flower Type:
Fragrant Flowers: No
Foliage Color: Purple bronze
Fragrant Foliage: No
Berries: No
Berry Color: na
Sun Needs: Full to Mostly Sun
Water Needs: Average to Low
Soil Type: Clay, Loam, Sandy, Silty
Soil Moisture / Drainage: Moist But Well Drained to Dry when established
Soil pH: 6.0 – 8.0
Maintenance / Care: Very Low
Attracts: Visual Attention, Birds
Resistances: Deer, Disease, Drought (when established), Heat, Humidity, Insect, Rabbits, Temporary Wet Soil, black Walnut
Description
With a dazzling succession of color changes throughout the year, ‘The Blues’ is a superstar of a North American native ornamental grass that won the 2022 Perennial Plant Association’s Perennial Plant of The Year Award. Its young leaves are an attractive powdery blue with deep purple highlights. In late summer, rosy pink to red flower stalks emerge and rise above the leaves opening to fluffy silver seed heads that contrast beautifully with brilliant burgundy to russet foliage that turns to glowing amber red that holds throughout much of the winter. The upright habit may hold through winter but often the leaves fan out to a graceful open habit. Thriving in containers or in sunny sites with dry, clay, gravel or sandy soils, and tolerant of drought, alkalinity, heat and humidity makes The Blues a very easy-to-grow almost anywhere in the country!
Landscape & Garden Uses
Growing 3 to 4 feet tall and 1.5 to 2 feet wide, The Blues Little Bluestem Grass is ideal for use as a vertical accent in small garden spaces or in groupings, as a border, or large drifts or mass plantings in larger landscape borders. A fine addition to ornamental grass gardens, bird and wildlife gardens, native plant gardens, prairies, meadows or naturalized areas. Because it is exceptionally drought tolerant when established it is also highly suited for xeriscaping (low water needs).
Spacing: 18 inches apart for mass plantings; 5 feet or more apart for space between plants
How To Measure for Total Square Feet
How Many Plants to Fill a Planting Area
Growing Preferences
The Blues Little Bluestem Grass is exceptionally easy to grow in well-drained average to poor soils with dry to medium moisture in full sun. It tolerates a wide range of soil types ranging from clay to sandy or rocky. Good drought resistance once established and tolerates both high heat and humidity. Cut plants back to just above the ground in late winter or early spring before new growth appears.
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