Ornamental · Poaceae
Little Bluestem
Schizachyrium scoparium
Fine blue-gray blades in summer, burning copper and burgundy by fall, then fluffy silver seed heads through winter.
Full sun
Every 10–21 days
USDA 3–9
2–4 ft · 0.6–1.2 m
Overview
Little bluestem grows as a dense, clump-forming warm-season native of the North American prairie, ranging from Canada into the South. Its fine, narrow blades rise in a tight upright tuft that reaches 2 to 4 feet (60 to 120 cm) tall, and through summer they carry a cool blue-gray cast right down their slender length. The blades stay slim and erect, packed close at the crown, and the grass holds this fine texture even on the poorest ground.
The color runs deepest late in the year. As the nights cool, the slender blades flush warm copper, mahogany, and burgundy along their length, and fluffy silvery seed heads open above them, each tuft catching the low autumn light. Those pale, downy heads and the standing stems keep their shape through winter, so the fine blades and seed plumes stay legible against the cold long after softer plants collapse.
For all that texture, it lives by one hard condition: keep it lean and sunny. Rich soil, shade, or too much water swell the blades soft, and the tight upright tuft then splays open at the center into a loose, sprawling ring. Grown hard and dry, the blades stand straight and hold their color.
Care
The short version: full sun, lean well-drained soil, and almost no water once the clump has rooted in. Give it no fertilizer, and cut the spent blades to the ground in late winter before the new shoots spear up.
Light
Little bluestem colors and stands best in full sun, the more the better. Its blades take a little light shade, but past that the stems grow slack and lean, and the copper and burgundy of the fall blades dulls along with them.
Water
Once the roots have taken, this is a drought-tough grass that runs on rainfall alone. Water only while it settles, then hold off, since blades grown in dry, lean ground stand far straighter. Even in a heat spell, roughly every 10 to 21 days keeps it going.
Soil
Lean, gritty ground brings out its best. Average, dry to medium, well-drained soil suits it, and its fine blades rise just as cleanly from sandy, rocky, or clay ground. Wet or overly rich spots swell the tissue soft and the tuft flops. Any pH from 5.5 to 7.5 serves.
Temperature
The blades weather extremes few grasses could. They come back after winter lows of -40°F (-40°C) and stand through summer heat past 109°F (43°C), which is why the grass ranges across most of the continent.
Humidity
Open-air humidity means little to a prairie grass. What keeps the blades clean is good air movement through the clump, drying the foliage so the odd orange fleck of rust never settles in.
Feeding
Give it none. Fertilizer is the surest way to ruin the plant, swelling the blades into soft, lush growth that flops and loses its color. Lean soil is exactly what tightens and brightens the foliage.
Pruning
One cut a year is the whole of it. Shear the spent blades to the ground in late winter or early spring before the new shoots spear up, and the fresh tuft rebuilds itself from the crown.
Repotting
Settled clumps seldom need splitting. The tell comes when the center dies out into a bare ring or the tuft opens and thins, and then you lift and divide it in spring.
Size & spacing
A clump throws up blades 2 to 4 feet (60 to 120 cm) tall over a base spreading about 18 to 24 inches (46 to 61 cm) across. Set plants on those spacings so each keeps its tight upright tuft with air threading between the blades.
When to plant
Little bluestem is a warm-season grass, so its fine blades hold back until real heat arrives before they lengthen. Sow seed in early spring, set young plants out after the last frost, and the blades color and the seed heads open from late summer into winter.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Sow: Late winter to early spring, about 8-10 weeks before last frost
- Plant: Spring after last frost into early summer
- Harvest: August to February; reddish-brown flowers followed by fluffy silvery-white seed heads persisting through winter
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 3–9
Temperature: down to -40°C
Troubleshooting
Little touches its fine blades, and the few troubles that do show up read plainly on the foliage. Watch the blades and stems for the early signs below, and the answer usually lies in sun, dry ground, and restraint rather than any spray.
Stems buckle and splay open by late season
When the upright column of blades caves outward and the crown gapes open, you are looking at lodging. The stems have grown soft, and shade, rich soil, and surplus water are what softened them. Set the clump in full sun, keep fertilizer off it, and where the ground stays lush choose a stiff-stemmed cultivar such as Standing Ovation or Blue Heaven that holds its blades erect.
Fix:
- Site in full sun
- Grow in lean, dry, well-drained soil with no added fertilizer
- Reduce supplemental watering once established
- Choose sturdy upright cultivars such as Standing Ovation or Blue Heaven
Fine grassy seedlings rising around the clump
Slender green seedlings threading up around the parent clump are the mark of self-seeding. This vigorous native scatters plenty of ripe seed from its fluffy heads, and the seed germinates readily where it lands. Pluck the small volunteers out by hand, or shear the seed heads off before they ripen so no seed ever falls.
Fix:
- Remove unwanted seedlings by hand
- Cut back seed heads before they mature if spread is unwanted
Orange pustules freckling the leaf blades
Small orange to reddish-brown pustules speckling the flat blades, powdery enough to smear onto a fingertip, are rust, a fungus that lands on the foliage here and there. The spotting stays skin-deep and fades without harm. Open the clump to moving air, wet only the roots and not the blades, and cut away any leaf too heavily freckled to recover its color.
Fix:
- Improve air circulation
- Avoid overhead watering
- Remove severely affected foliage
Toxicity
Little bluestem is non-toxic to cats, dogs, horses, and everyone else at home. Its slender blades are native forage grazed by livestock, and its silvery seed feeds seed-eating birds, so there is nothing in the plant to worry about. The one small catch is that its grass pollen can bother anyone with hay fever.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats Safe
The narrow blades hold nothing toxic to a cat. Chew through a mouthful of the fine foliage and a cat may bring a strand back up, the plain reaction any grass provokes.
Dogs Safe
A dog can mouth the slender blades freely, since none of the tissue is toxic. A large wad of the coarse foliage may draw a little vomiting and nothing worse.
Horses Safe
Horses crop the leafy blades without harm. This is a prized prairie forage grass, welcome in the field rather than a hazard.
Rabbits Safe
Rabbits nibble the fine foliage at no risk to them.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, goats, and sheep graze the blades across open range. The grass has long fed animals as native pasture and hay.
Birds Safe
Songbirds pick the silvery seed from the fluffy heads all winter and roost among the standing stems, every part of it safe for them.
People Safe
The blades and seed heads are safe to touch and to grow. The one caveat is the airborne grass pollen, which can trouble anyone with hay fever.
Pets that nibble grass blades may occasionally vomit or have mild stomach upset, as with any grass; grass pollen can affect allergy-sensitive people.
Varieties
Breeders have singled out forms of little bluestem for stiffer, straighter blades and richer color. These are the named cultivars you are most likely to find, each known by the cast of its foliage.
Standing Ovation
Its stems stand rigidly erect even in richer soil, lifting blue blades tipped with red that deepen to a clean red-maroon in fall rather than browning out.
Blue Heaven (MinnBlueA)
Bred at the University of Minnesota into a tall, narrow, upright column of blades, its blue-gray summer foliage burns to burgundy-red streaked with pink and purple as the air cools.
The Blues
Its blades carry a pronounced blue tint that gives way to burgundy-red in autumn, though the clump tends to splay open late in the season.
Twilight Zone
A patented selection whose blades show an unusual silvery-mauve cast washed over with purple.
Carousel
A compact, smaller cultivar that packs the same multicolored blades into a shorter, denser clump.
Companions
Little bluestem looks most at home with other sun-loving prairie plants that share its taste for lean, dry, well-drained ground.
Plant near
Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum): Native warm-season prairie grass with the same lean, dry, full-sun requirements for naturalistic plantings
Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea): Drought-tolerant prairie perennial that pairs in full sun and well-drained soil
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia): Sun-loving prairie companion thriving in the same dry, lean conditions
How to propagate
Little bluestem grows readily from its fluffy seed to raise a broad stand, or from divisions of an existing clump when a cultivar's exact blade color needs holding.
SeedEasy
Sow into a firm seedbed in early spring; can also start indoors 8-10 weeks before last frost · One to two growing seasons
The fluffy silvery seed is the cheapest way to raise a broad stand. Press it into a firm seedbed in early spring, or sow it indoors 8 to 10 weeks before your last frost, then let the warming spring soil crack the seed into growth. Allow the fine seedlings one to two growing seasons to build a full clump, after which the grass drops its own seed and fills in nearby.
DivisionEasy
Spring as new growth begins · One growing season
Division is the only way to carry a cultivar's exact blade color forward, since those blues and reds will not return true from seed. Lift a settled clump in spring as the fresh shoots spear up, tease it apart, and the pieces knit in within a single growing season. It also rebuilds an aging clump whose center has died out into a bare ring.
Myths
Little bluestem needs rich, watered, and fertilized soil to grow well.
The truth runs the other way. On lean, dry ground in full sun this prairie grass throws up its straightest blades and its most saturated fall reds and coppers. Feed it rich soil, extra water, or fertilizer and the tissue turns soft and slack, and the clump splays open at the center.