I am having one heck of a time arranging pictures on this new improved GW. Its driving me bats. If you try to delete a photo that pops up at the top, the whole page goes green so I loose the whole thing if I try to take out just one picture to reposition it.

ABOVE PHOTO: are three mature plants of Little Bluestem 'The Blues'. Its a very bushy type and tends to flop on me, not exactly lodging, its more like the weight of the stems is not able to keep itself erect. It doesn't form the classic '!' in the garden but still the color is great and so is the texture. These are in full sun growing in very sandy soil on the dry side.

BELOW PHOTOS:

Blue Heaven (Minn Blue) I purchased from Santa Roas Gardens at various times of the season. The greener one turning red shows a variation in seedlings. Not the nice turquoise blue like the volunteers seedlings of the first photo but definitely redder in fall as opposed to purple which I find interesting and could cull out and use in a grouping. The purple is quite striking on this grass.

The 'Blue Heaven' plants pictured in the bottom shot get morning sun only are in decent average garden soil and still they stand tall.

I am interested to hear anybody else's experience in Bluestem, preferences etc. I am going to be seeing how 'Prairie Blues' does this year as well as those tall ones I got locally at the state History Museum.

Well another glitch in the new website. I edited my last post and my photos got whacked. Kaw kaw kaw.............

Well, never mind... I came back to check and the photos again look whole and not whacked like when I first posted. I'll get used to all this new fandangle fanciness some day I guess.

I have raked them into the wild on my land and still can't tell if any took. I can't tell the seedlings from all the other grass. I grew some from seed in pots and distributed them and I hope they made it through the winter. I did stake them but not all of them got water to help establish. We did have a wet winter but they do look dry. I am keeping my fingers crossed. My native bluestem prefers bit more dirt (other stuff mixed into the caliche road base) than the Blue Grama grass. They will also grow in part shade. All the grasses here do grow not as tall as your grasses. I guess that is why they call us a short grass prairie.

Speaking of lodging grasses or how they perform, here is one I shot at Will Rogers Park. Notice how upright and nice are the Sideoats Grama and behind it the Lovegrass which was huge and glowing, the yellow flowers are lantana and some well established crepe myrtles form the backdrop. Then to the far left and planted in the front is a few pitiful looking Little Bluestem -- quite dismal and lodging very badly. I imagine this is good garden soil because the year before it was all planted in various perennials and hundreds of iris.

..I just want to say that I love prairie plantings and we try to emulate it a little in some of our gardens here.... and I've grown Schizachyrium scoparium before, which unfortunately tends to flop here in our richer soils, however there is a variety I am waiting on, which hasn't been mentioned yet on this thread....maybe elsewhere... a variety called 'Prairie Munchkin'.... it's not yet available to us in Europe but it's more compact and doesn't flop.... I want this one very much....

also Bouteloua gracilis 'Blonde Ambition'... is another I'm waiting on...

meanwhile, I have Stipa...Calamagrostis, Hakonechloa...Pennisetum, ....Deschampsia , Uncinia, Festuca's....and Miscanthus...although I realise these are not natives for you....

...lovely photos...always enjoy looking at these types of gardens...

Docmom, this won't address your question specifically, but I wanted to mention, in the shade of your oaks, there may be some sedge species/cultivars which would perform well and give you a grass-like look. I'm not going to get into which species, etc. since I don't know your whereabouts, but it might be something to investigate....if you haven't already.

+oM

Oh and a side note to Tex and Want: I addressed your thread above by talking about "the desert", not realizing, you guys may not exactly be in true desert. I don't even know, but wanted to clear up any misconception I may have fallen into.

I have bluestem that grows in an open shade of texas live oaks. It is not a dark shade, more a dappled shade. My Bluestem is the green Bluestem

docmom, the variations of bluestem seem to be based mainly on the aesthetics of bluer foliage and secondly fall color. There are so many variations in nature but I believe they are selected from local genotypes displaying desirable qualities. 'Standing Ovation' is touted to be more upright in less than favorable conditions (richer soil) but 'Blue Heaven' is one that doesn't lodge either. The stems seem to be a bit thicker and stronger. As far as their value to wildlife is concerned I don't think it would matter on the type. Wholesale seed is sold with indications that some strains do better in certain areas than others. The value lies in the fact that grasslands as a whole are the foundation for life, they bind the earth, prevent water & wind erosion, are the base of the land food chain feeding all wildlife (including us) and they are shrinking. Wes Jackson's remark "The plow is deadlier than sword" is a quote often used to describe the situation we have created. Size really matters, some animals will die out simply because they cannot cross roads cut through a prairie and they require a certain size habitat for the species to survive. Unlike trees, the roots replenish the underground aquifers so that is another important feature.

wiscon, I am no where near living in a desert, this is oil, wheat and cattle country. Our annual rainfall averages about 36" per year. We experience floods, droughts, blizzards, tornadoes, ice and hail. The weather is a real roller coaster ride here on the plains, we even brag about it.

So "lodging" grass means grass that bends over? I have never heard that term. I have never seen any BLUE bluestem growing in my area. It starts , in the wild, to the northwest of us about an hours drive. I have always wondered about that. I have not seen any blue bluestem in gardens either. I am hoping that the seed that I get will grow blue bluestem from the seed. so far they are green. I am hoping they age blue once they grow in after this winter.

The seedlings of 'The Blues' are very light blue, exactly like the parent plants. I also ordered Bluestem seed from Plants of the Southwest that were a nice blue, not quite as faded blue-jeans that 'The Blues have but close. Around here in the wild, I see many shades varying from green to blue. Some are redder than others in fall & winter too. I thought that new type called 'Smoke Signal' was quite striking and the color is similar to those I collected seed from at the History Museum-- that same deep gunmetal blue/grey but the plants look shorter and the plants at the museum tend to lodge I noticed. I'm tempted to order one plant to get a start in the hope it would produce young-uns. One good thing about L.B.S. is you ALWAYS get children.

Quite right Tex. I tried to pre-correct myself on that point.

The only Schyzachyrium I get to work with is "local" genotype seed-grown stuff. We don't even use little bluestem very often in our prairie plantings, except where we're purposely going for a lower-growing effect for some reason. Otherwise, big blue is far and away the more common and widely-adapted species in this area. And that's also a bit of a stretch, given we're north and east of the main prairie areas in Wisconsin...er...pre-settlement Wisconsin.

I'm more into other plant community types but nevertheless, what little prairie we do install is a boon to wildlife and nature generally, in that here as elsewhere, any prairie that did exist was an early victim of the plow. I have a stubborn streak in me that makes me want to question inauthentic "restoration" efforts, but through sheer osmosis I think, I'v e come around to really appreciating the prairie/meadow plant community. Good thing too because, although the stormwater engineers I work with are good people and unusually willing to accept my input, the prairie plantings around our stormwater ponds are basically here to stay. I incorporate pockets of other more authentic (for this area) plant communities in around the edges, which I find gratifying.

+oM

Wisconitom, my appreciation for the prairie is actually a relatively recent one which has occurred in the last 10 years. Since I changed directions here on my small piece of property I've picked up certain bits of information and have become increasingly interested, aware and finally alarmed by the takeover of the prairies in my area by trees. It starts with small cedars invading a field due to fire suppression and many other factors and sooner than you would ever think possible, another grassland is a mixed forest of volunteer hardwood and evergreen trees, it happens right before your eyes, you can literally see the process. I admire people like you who actually work on a larger scale, I'm just a 'gardener' basically with an increasing appreciation for what I once didn't look twice at or think about, what's called "a whole lot a nuthin out there...."

Well, I'm stopping at this forum because of Texas ranger; I can't believe I've never been here before. I've grown S. 'The Blues' for a number of years. In my lean, sandy soil it never flops and I'm quite fond of it. I'm tempted by two of the new varieties, but have already spent two much on other things.

laceyvail, I moved 'The Blues' bluestem plants I purchased originally from Santa Rosa Gardens, they were planted in the lowest spot up front on the edge of the berm so of course water seeped downhill after rains. Its sand and they leaned badly. Last year I dug the 3 huge plants up, they came up easily since it was such deep sand -- clean white roots all intact that only took a shake to clean, thats how sandy it is. The 3 plants were so large and beefy the year before they didn't even resemble bluestem and each had so many loaded fluffy blooming stems by late summer that the weight was too much for the stems, they leaned over since they were growing in a spot that sloped a bit downhill anyway. Out back in soil that bakes hard in summer 'The Blues' are more well behaved and look like bluestem.

I replanted the front spot with last years 'Blue Heaven' seedlings because they have stems that are easily two times thicker and turn such a nice purple in fall. Time will tell how they do there but since they don't lodge in too much shade so maybe they will stay upright there too. The color is definitely better in a full day of sun, some are almost turquoise, the leaves are quite a bit shorter than 'The Blues'.

Speaking of spending, I am very tempted to get a start of that new variation they named 'Smoke Signal'. I wish they sold it at High Country Gardens because I definitely want to order a Sand Sage and it would save shipping costs, I hate ordering from different places and paying shipping at each, seems to always work out that way.