They may not be the showiest plants in your yard, but ornamental grasses are key plants, providing seasonal beauty with unique colors and textures. Reliably easy to grow and well-adapted to the extremes of the Great Plains climate, grasses offer a huge array of sizes and flowering times, as well as these additional benefits:
- Grasses provide movement in the garden, dancing in the slightest summer breeze. As they move, the stems and leaves rustle together to add sound to the garden.
- Ornamental grasses come in a variety of soft and subtle colors, from forest green to lime and from gray-green to powder blue to light yellow, all complementing brightly colored perennial flowers. The autumn chill transforms grasses into an array of gold, russet, bronze and burgundy.
- Most grasses add a strong vertical element to a garden design. The long linear leaves and fine stems of large grasses provide a soft, fine-textured backdrop and shorter grasses complement broad-leaf perennials in front. Grasses help frame the flowers and provide support for floppy perennials.
Here are some recommendations for great grasses to consider for your yard:
Short Grasses for Dry, Sunny Sites
- Blue Grama (Bouteloua gracilis)—18”h, 12”w. Native to dry prairies; tufted with thin, wiry leaves. Eyelash-like seed heads top thin stems.
- Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula)—2-3’h, 18”w. Mounds of gray-green foliage; numerous narrow flower stalks with oatlike seed heads held on one side of the stems; bronze-orange fall color; straw in winter.
- Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)—2-3’h, 18”w. Dependable native bunch grass with fine-textured bright green or light blue stems. The late summer flowers dry in fall, becoming silvery and remain attractive through winter; avoid highly fertile soils or excessive moisture, heavy mulching.
- Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis)—2-3’h, 18”w. Native bunch grass with thin, ribbon-like leaves forming mounds; delicate seed heads appear in late summer and remain attractive through fall. Prairie dropseed likes it dry and never needs dividing.
- Prairie Junegrass (Koeleria pyramidata)—Dryland, cool season, native bunch grass with gray-green leaves; blooms early June with narrow, erect inflorescence; needs
Tall Prairie Grasses for Wet or Dry Soils
- Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii)—5-6’h, 2’w. Impressive native of the tall grass prairie; rich, green leaves, with seed heads that resemble a turkey’s foot; reliable fall color in copper, rich orange, with maroon tones; may grow floppy if shaded; wet or dry soils.
- Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans)—5-6’h, 2’w. One of the most beautiful prairie grasses in fall. A clump former with blue-green leaves and golden, feathery seed heads held above leaves in fall. It is very adaptable and can grow in a variety of sites; moderately drought tolerant; best grown in full sun. They will self-sow, so this is a great one for meadow plantings.
- Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)—5-7’h, 3’w (some varieties can be shorter). Very adaptable to soil types; wet or dry, sandy or clay; use for quick screen, backdrop, vertical line, rain gardens, poor soils. Avoid shade and top watering to prevent lax, floppy stems.
