Little bluestem

Appearance

Little bluestem grows to become an upright, roundish mound of soft, bluish-green or grayish green blades in May and June that is about two or three feet high. In July it starts to send up its flowering stalks until it gets to be about four to five feet high. In fall, it displays a good coppery or mostly orange color with tints of red or purple. Sometimes it displays in some places, as in sandy soils, a more red fall color.

In winter it becomes a more orangish-bronze until it becomes more tan in early spring. In other words, it makes a great plant for winter interest and can also be a great dried plant indoors in a vase or something. It should be cut down low to the ground in early spring before new growth appears later in spring.

Habitat

Little bluestem is a perennial bunchgrass and is prominent in tallgrass prairie, along with big bluestem, indiangrass and switchgrass. It is a warm-season species, meaning it employs the C4 photosynthetic pathway.

Uses

The plant grows best in full sun and a well-drained soil. It can be dug up and divided in spring as many other perennials for propagation or to reduce the size of an old big plant. It can be burned in late winter or early spring in a prairie or meadow before new growth like many American prairie grasses as big bluestem, indian-grass, and switchgrass, and they all burn quickly and cleanly. One can burn individual plants in a garden by cutting off most of the top and setting fire to the base foliage of about 6" high. If an older plant begins to allow the flower-seed stalks to fall over, it is easy to prune back the stalks or stake them, though when the plant tissue dries in autumn, the stalks will return to being erect by themselves. It is an easy, low maintenance perennial that is deer resistant. It is definitely a beautiful ornamental grass that should be used so much more, as most of the gardening public or landscapers don't know it.