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Grasses
Native and adapted grasses don’t tax our water supply, are one of the most effective erosion control plantings and even provide food via their seeds for songbirds in winter. From the shortest tussock, looking like a sea urchin on land, to the tallest clump of blades and seed heads billowing in the wind, there are grasses to fit the bill. For all the boldness of the texture and form, many gardeners really enjoy seeing subtle details of color and texture when the plants come into bloom and we all have noticed the continued year-round statement made by decorative grasses. Its hard to imagine an environmentally sustainable landscape without grasses.
This intense silver-blue grass is more upright than most Fescues and adds texture, and motion to a flower bed or a mixed prairie planting. Try mixing different blue fescues and Blue Avena Grass for an interesting range of sizes in a monochromatic color scheme! 15” tall and 12” wide.
Zone 4
A drought tolerant warm season native grass that blooms from summer to fall. A foundation grass in the Great and High Plains. Form is a basal cluster of short blades followed by an 18 inch to 3 ft tower depending upon water amount. Fluffy russet seed heads ripen in fall above foliage that also takes on burgundy color through winter. Blaze is greener in summer and more russet red in winter than the species. Height is 2-3 foot.
This cool season grass forms a beautiful blue-gray spraying mound of foliage that contrasts nicely with Blue Fescues in size while echoing them in color. The shape of this plant reminds us of fireworks spraying out from the ground. We feature this cultivar because the blades are a little wider and show off the color better than the species plant. Does well in clay soils. Height: 12-18” inches.
Zone 4
This eastern native grows like a tower, the narrow dark green leaves are topped with frothy wheat colored blooms in early summer. Who would ever guess that it had to go to Europe to be found and brought back as a sterile hybrid. No need to clip seed heads to prevent seedlings. Great for adding height to the garden! 4’ tall, 24” wide. Windbreak.
Zone 4
‘09 Plant Select and ‘07 Great Plants Grass of the Year This elegant clump forming grass with 24-40”H is airier and more open than its eastern American native cousin, Karl Foerster. The long, open feathery dark pink tinged flower panicles bloom from August to October unlike the June blooming familiar Karl F. and the 12-15”W clumps are not quite as vertically stiff either. With moderate soil moisture inFull Sun to Partial Shade in most soils expect pleasing summer through winter presence.
Zone 4
Foliage emerges green with the ends tipped in red in spring on this cultivar of the warm season native grass. In summer reddish-pink seed heads form above reddish foliage that turns dark black purple in Fall, this selection is striking! Topping out at 3 feet.
Zone 4
 Switch Grass ‘Heavy Metal’
(Panicum virgatum ‘Heavy Metal’)Blue-gray blades form a dense upright clump topped by airy panicles 12” to 16” above the foliage in July. In fall the foliage turns yellow to red and the panicles become creamy tan. Expect to see this display through much of winter even with snow and wind. Tolerance of a wide range of soils and moisture levels make this warm season grass a great garden accent today. Originally, switch grasses grew in what are now nearly extinct remnants of tall grass prairie. Height: 3’-3.5’ Width: 2’. Windbreak.
Zone 4
Bluest, hardiest, strongest and quickest growing switch grass! As a warm season grass, growth takes off in summer followed by wonderful soft pink panicles topping the 3—5 ft plants. Clumps mature to be as wide as tall. Tolerates clay well. Windbreak.
Zone 4
Graceful, warm season bunch grass is a sod-former on its native tall grass prairie but here it makes a fine 4-5’H by 2-3’W accent plant or garden screen. Beautiful orange-yellow winter color. Zone 5 rated but we find that virgatum cultivars are hardy for Casper .
Zone 5
Great Plants® 2004 This is the western answer to Karl Foerster. A stalwart warm season plant: wide green to blue-green blades stand upright below golden plume-like seed heads that show bright pollen grains in late summer. (These really walk away from Farmer’s Market!) Height: 4’-5’ and Width: 1’-2’.
Zone 3
Plant Select® 2006 Think Big and Bold with this blue-green mounding fountain of a grass to add to your xeriscape garden or a well drained regular flower bed! At maturity the grass blades alone will be 3’ - 4’ tall and width to about 3’ and the pinkish blooms maturing into white seed heads extending to 7’! Use as an accent, backdrop or even windbreak to show off this beauty! Windbreak. Zone 4
Great Plants® 2006 This selection of tall grass prairie species Big Bluestem was University of Nebraska evaluated and introduced due to its excellent color. The showy blue basal foliage turns rich purple in fall and wide golden bands in the flowering culms provide striking contrast. Height: 5' Width: 2'. Windbreak. Zone 4
This variegated form of Karl Foerster has a wide white center stripe on each leaf blade. The feathery, golden seed plumes rise to about 3’ tall in Casper in early summer and the overall shape of the 1-2’ wide clump rounds out a bit more than the very vertical towering form of K. F. Like its sibling, it is a cool season grass that greens up early and will stay green through summer heat with supplemental watering. Plant in full sun to part sun. Occasionally water deeply in spring and fall, more often during summer heat.
Zone 4
2005 GreatPlants Grass This fine- leaved, sod-forming warm season native prairie bunch grass makes a nice garden accent with airy delicate looking seed cascading down stalks that are 16-32”H (dependent upon amount of water) above short, basal foliage clumps 18”W. Plant in Sun
Zone 4
The most important range grass of the Great Plains makes a durable low water lawn (usually started from seed) for Full Sun sites but as a garden accent it is precious! Get a few plugs to fill any empty spot in a Blue Grama lawn or place a few clumps of this curly, fine-bladed warm season bunch grass with 16-20”H spikes of eye-lash-like inflorescence above 18”W (at maturity) clumpedbasal foliage.
Zone 4
2003 Great Plants Grass of the Year! This bunchgrass, native of northern prairies, where it occurs with Junegrass, little bluestem and needlegrass), is a major component of sod-formation in Sunny sites. The grass blades are narrow and fragrant on 2’Height by 1’Widthclumps that are particularly attractive in bloom and seed.
Zone 3
This 32-42”Height native bunch grass is a strong, upright warm season grower with bluer foliage than the species and latest summer-early fall golden, plume-like seed heads above 24-32”Wide clumped broad bladed leaves. Plant in Sun.
Zone 4
This deep blue-green bladed 5-6”Tall by 1-2’Wide tall grass prairie native with contrasting “turkey-foot” seed heads makes quite an accent in a western garden. Like many western native grasses it is a warm season bunch grass suited to Full Sun and will fail to thrive if planted in tight clay. We like the ‘Pawnee’ cultivar because it is more vigorous than the species here in our growing conditions. After frost expect the foliage to become light red before fading into a softer winter color.
Zone 4
Two very divergent growth patterns characterize grasses: Cool season forms “green up” early in the growing season and come into bloom by mid summer. Depending upon moisture levels and temperature of air and soil these may go dormant in the hottest part of summer and will exhibit dried seed heads before fall. Some cool season grasses, especially turf-type will grow new blades in the cooler weather of early fall, others won’t. In spring, warm season grasses sometimes get mistaken for dead by impatient gardeners because the plants need the warmth of late spring to get growing. Once they get going they are gorgeous and usually stand through winter. Of the cool season species only Karl Foerster can hold its own display intact for winter!
Plant Select® is a cooperative research program of the Denver Botanical Garden, the horticulture industry and Colorado State University. The goal is to evaluate and introduce plants that are suited to the Rocky Mountain West. They are found either in the wild or in regional experimental stations like at Cheyenne. We value this research and are proud to offer Plant Select.
Grass care is simple! Clip or use a string trimmer to remove the old growth in March before green-up. This is vital for clump formers otherwise new growth will be choked out by old, dead foliage and an ugly mix of dried blades and new growth will result as well as setting the stage for the plant to go into decline. In the natural setting, a balance exists with in-situ recycling of plant material and no other fertilization is required. We advocate little if any fertilization.
Rain Gauge Throughout this site, the following are used as guidelines for watering established plants:
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- Full sun to part sun
Little Blue Stem 'Blaze' (Schizachyrium scoparium)
Saphirprudel Blue Oat or Avena Grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens)
Korean Feather Reed Grass
(Calamagrostis brachytricha)
Switch Grass ‘Prairie Sky’ (Panicum virgatum v. ‘Prairie Sky’)
Feather Reed Grass ‘Avalanche’ (Calamagrostis acutiflora ‘Avalanche’)
Full sun to part shade
‘Trailway’ Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula ‘Trailway’) 
Blue Grama (Bouteloua gracilis) 
Indian Steel Indian Grass (Sorgastrum nutans ‘Indian Steel’)
‘Pawnee’ Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii ‘Pawnee’)
Wyoming Plant Company, LLC PO Box 670, Evansville, Wyoming 82636 (307) 247-1190 Copyright ©2010 Wyoming Plant Company. All rights reserved. |