Correction Stipa barbata. I corrected it but must have not "submitted".

Wow -- that is so gorgeous I had to look it up!

TX , That is Ball moss AKA Tillandsia recurvata. Some people consider it a pest in the trees and they strip it off the live oaks. It can get thick and heavy on them but it only uses the tree for support.. I don't have a problem with it

For some reason, The arrangement reminds me of my mother during a sailboat ride. She was a platinum blonde all her life, naturally silver white.. I seem to find her in the flora a lot now that she is gone.

Thats funny, my garden reminds me of Grandma Brown (the grandma on my mother's side), anyway, thats what I'm going for with this prairie thing and I do think of her & the family farm a lot. They owned that farm in Grant County with the concrete buildings where its flatter than a pancake and grass everywhere you look, don't know why the place makes me feel so good but it does. I like the lack of color for some reason I can't fathom, the look of the grasses. The more technology, modernity and the selfie generation sets in the more I love the place and thinking back on it. Must be a sign of old age?

I LOVE THE MOSS BALLS!!!!! I never heard of them before. COOL!

WOW! Love it! Did you grow it from seed? Am I apt to find it in a nursery? It's gorgeous, and "drought tolerant" in the description makes it all the more tempting to me!

Rusty

I bought it from Annie Anuals in California. It is not commonly found in nurseries , even good local nurseries. I did get some seed to germinate from seed that I collected last year, and will be bringing them to the SA swap possibly. They grow slow and will be small.. I do think I have seen seed on the internet somewhere. Jelitto seed possibly. I have some seed, not many. I do collect the seed as you see.

TX, I will keep my eye out for a good ball for you. This one was perfect with its flowers all seeding out. I keep it inside as artwork/dust collector whatnot. It is sitting on a peace of coral turned upside down. It made sense to me at the time.

"Feeling is like a sent from memories" a friend wrote that to me and I would have to agree.

I found this writer about Stipa barbata.

Stipa barbata Zn7a (0º to 5ºF) Poaceae

"Everything that you could ask for in a grass, grace, beauty and fantastic form

this is sure to become a garden classic. Long smokey tails become the inflorescence on this beautiful plant. Tightly clumping and somewhat sparse

growing at the base its true beauty is in bloom when wiry stems display

long silken trailing tails up to 18” LONG! They wave and gently sway in the finest breath of a breeze. Their constant motion is mesmerizing in a garden. As the flowers mature they slowly twist in an effort to mature and then eventually take flight and literally wind themselves into the ground. Unfortunately, they rarely germinate (damn!) This deserves a place in EVERY garden in full sun and well drained soil. Tolerant of great drought when established. Blooms appear in June and are effective through early August. Spectacular and rare unfortunately."

I planted quite a few seeds , maybe 25 seeds and got 7. At first I was disappointed but then I became a bit glad because grasses that get 99% germination like some European Stipas scare me. I tore them out.

I got this info off of this site about Xeric Grasses when googling about possible invasive characteristics

TX, notice the first grass on the list. VERY LIGHT BLUE and "well behaved". Agropyron magellanicum. HMMMMMMMM.

Now you just get the idea of that western wheatgrass out of your mind little lady. It won't grow well in hotter regions or so I have read more than once. Yea, I've looked at it before and checked it out. I have to do a brag and say some of our Indian Grasses and Little Blue Stems are BLUER, so there.

I just yanked one to those above mentioned, aggressive seeder Euro-Stipa's out of my 'prairie'. I'd let it bloom but it was looking so out of place I decided that this last attempt at surviving the spring culling of undesirables had to go. The stems and seeds were maggoty with aphids. First time I've ever seen an aphid infestation on a grass in all my years.

Speaking of aphids along with going off the rails into the sub basement of Off-topic land, I kept meaning to tell you that all the Silver King Artemisia has gotten infested every spring for the last three years. Later they get encrusted with lady bugs nymphs but only after the plants look like hell for the season. Interestingly, the Valerie Finnis Artemisia you sent me which is planted close by gets none at all. Makes you wonder doesn't it? Anyway, I'm going to gradually do a switch on that long row and replace the SK with VF and Russian Sage to keep my silver up and running all along that west side out back.

OK, ya gotta rain on the parade. LOL. I have enough grasses to establish as it is.

Well yer gonna get some more to establish come fall. Here are the 'as advertised' LBS types I was telling you about that have the thicker, faster growing, more robust roots. Sorry about the picture quality. Ever bit as blue if not bluer than any old heat resenting Western Wheatgrass.

1. The OKIES.

2. LOS LANOS from NM for difficult soils & dry conditions purchased from HCG and how they are doing year #2

Volunteers of 'Blue Heaven' Little Bluestem @ about 4ft tall to the left & closest to view next to artemisia.

In the center more toward the back is another OKIE which is much bluer, taller and still climbing toward the sky. Its taller than the Switchgrass on the extreme right.

Better picture of an OKIE

Do you recognize this familiar guy from Texas? He got sent to me from a friend. I thought he'd died and the friend sent another. Both are doing good.

Mine are starting to bud too. I have some very silver relatives from the Big Bend. They still have not bloomed and are a little slower. But their foliage color is white white white

Nice form on the Los Lunas gras and the Okies. Los Lunas is a town just south of Albuquerque on the Rio Grande. So it is getting further down in the latitude and elevation , so it probably is more used to heat. That one does look vibrant. It is amazing the differences in bluestem grasses. I brought back 4 types that have sprouted from New Mexico. I was picking them during the time they turned red so I couldn't test to their blueness at the time. One is very tiny and weak in its growth and the one from Gallisteo road is Vibrant. The one that turned a brilliant orange is healthy but nothing compared to the Galisteo one. It still has me hoping that it will give me a color show one day. I found it interesting that the roadside mowers had turned it into a turf grass. A suburban lawn never gave this kind of enjoyment. One day my 4 little seedlings will cover my yard. HA! This was north of the town of Quemado on the way to the Zuni Rez.

Tomorrow I will try to get some photos of the small seedlings. so much hope in those small pots.

I find it interesting how large the grasses get in your garden , Tx. I have these 5 ' green Bluestem here , That I bet would grow 10' in your yard. They are green though. Not in your color palette.

I doubt it. I have them growing very dry in horrible clay that turns to brick in summer plus its been dry here since January and I haven't watered them. I moved several volunteers along the west side out back where those tree roots suck every bit of moisture out and its unimproved clay there. This isn't my good sandy stuff, it'd probably be taller--- too tall and it flops. .

Below is a volunteer from 'Blue Heaven down by the street where its a scorcher and bone dry. All of them are coloring up with bits a purple. I dug out 20 volunteers a couple days ago and have them in pots adjusting in morning sun only, I plan to replace the Mexican Feather Grass on the Hell Strip.

I just love that photograph you posted of 'The Reapers' GORGEOUS COLOR!!!! Keep me posted on the LBS, I'm interested in how it turns out.

Picture doesn't do it justice, its really pretty, turquoise blue with hints of purple.

Nice clump. I must be doing something wrong. None of mine are that healthy looking. Any way here are my little seedlings.

orange Bluestem : thin growing Red Bluestem ; Galisteo Rd Bluestem

Close up of the Thin one and Gaisteo . What a difference. The thin one almost doesn't look like a bluestem.

I think I am naming the orange grass S. scoparium 'Orange Reapers';

I went to the USDA Los Lunas Plant Material Center site where High country gardens found their grass. God knows where the grass actually came from because they collect plants from all over. I found this pamphlet on seeding Grasses in a semiarid situation. What I found interesting was how deep they seeded it to make sure it got hydrated. Interesting article. It was an Interesting Article

That grass with the red round stems is something else besides LBS. Keep me posted on what it turns out to be. Your bluestem look a lot like the same size etc as the volunteers I dug up the other day, they are currently on the back porch forming roots, I'm transplanting them on the Hell Strip replacing the Mex. FG. Year one, you don't see much, some will bloom but they are small plants. Year two they are gallon sized and bloom. Year three they are really nice established looking clumps.

I'll read the article, I've tried googling Los Lanos and can't find much info. Aren;t they also the ones who came up with the 'Thin Man' Indian Grass? My Thin Man is coming along, I've got it planted in a place where its hot and dry, want to make sure he stays thin rather than the way others I tried in better soil did. Talk about big and ugly....Those are coming out real soon. Really terrible looking, coarse with big leaves, stems that are real tall and stick out in all directions. Just lovely.

Google USDA Los Lunas Plant Material Center. Notice that there is a discrepancy of masculine/feminine gender. " The Moons". My Spanish is horrid.I keep wanting to change that Los to a Las. You change it to Lanos which is almost Llano , or "plains" which would make sense for a plant material center.

Well heck, I've called it Los Lunas forever going back to about 5 years ago when I ordered that ridiculously large strain of Giant Sacaton from HCG they developed for creating desert wind breaks. Recently I ran across something online that had it spelled Los Lanos and figured I had it wrong so I switched my spelling about two weeks ago. All last year I called them the Los Lunas LBS. Los Lunas is what I've always googled.

Pastura is a the little bluestem they developed but that was way back in 1964. Just think back where you were in 1964, I bet you weren't thinking about little bluestem.

I've been whacking cactus. Things are getting out of hand here. I just 1/2'd the size the Snow Leopard cholla and starting in on Prickly P's but it got dark on me. Snow Leopard was starting to look sort of mangy and huge. Common variety New Mexico cholla got whacked down to about 2/3's its size. Ever get in one of those no-nonsense slash-n-burn moods? I've been in one all day long. Chop chop.