Purplish-bronze flowers give way to clusters of fluffy, silvery-white seed heads which may persist into early winter. It has narrow blue foliage with purple hues in fall and grows 2 to 2.5 ft. Discovered as a sport of Schizachyrium scoparium ‘The Blues’, it was chosen for its shorter form that will not flop over. Cut back old stems to 2-3 above ground-level in mid-spring. This native prairie grass is essential for the habitat garden providing seeds for birds and the leaves are food plants for various butterfly species. ![]() In the summer, the foliage color is a brighter. BLUE HEAVEN® has a taller, more upright habit that does not tend to flop like the species. An improvement over the species, this cultivar was discovered and selected in a field of Schizachyrium seedlings by Mary Meyer at the University of Minnesota. scoparium is a densely-tufted, deciduous, perennial grass producing a mound of narrow, arching, blue-green leaves. General: Little bluestem is a tufted (sometimes with short rhizomes), warm season (C4), perennial grass broadly distributed and native to the. 'Jazz' was introduced in 2010 by Intrinsic Perennial Gardens of Hebron, Illinois. Schizachyrium scoparium Prairie Blues is a seed grown selection of Little Bluestem that has very attractive blue foliage. Common Name: Little Bluestem, Ornamental Grass. Common name is in reference to the lavender-blue color on the stem bases. Genus name comes from the Latin schizein meaning to split and achyron meaning chaff. The seeds are eaten by many species of birds. Flowers are followed by clusters of fluffy, silvery-white seed heads which are attractive and often persist into winter. Purplish-bronze flowers appear in 3” long racemes on branched stems rising above the foliage in August. The foliage turns shades of bronze-orange in the fall. ![]() It typically matures to 2-4’ (less frequently to 5’) tall, and features upright clumps of slender, flat, linear green leaves (to 1/4“ wide), with each leaf having a tinge of blue at the base. It was one of the dominant grasses of the vast tallgrass prairie region which once covered rich and fertile soils in many parts of central North America. Schizachyrium scoparium, commonly called little bluestem, is native to prairies, fields, clearings, hills, limestone glades, roadsides, waste areas and open woods from Alberta to Quebec south to Arizona and Florida.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |