Slender stems rise up with purplish panicles. Emerges blue, develops pink and burgundy hues in late summer, and turns a rich copper in fall. The foliage provides excellent color all. Narrow, upright, grassy foliage creates a great vertical accent for a border, rock garden or container. Parentage is unknown, but ‘The Blues’ is considered to be a likely parent. Little Bluestem is a highly ornamental native grass prized for its blue-green leaf color and upright form. ‘Standing Ovation’ was discovered as a naturally occurring whole plant mutation in Landenberg, Pennsylvania in the summer of 2003. The upright and rigid plant habit of this cultivar is typically retained without lodging when plants are grown in rich soils. Fall color consists of attractive shades of red and maroon, with retention of such colors continuing late in the season (no “brown out”). Schizachyrium scoparium ‘The Blues’ grows in a mostly upright, clumping form, and it prefers poor soil to soil that is rich and fertile. Leaf blades are wider than those found on straight species plants. ‘Standing Ovation’ is a cultivar which features blue leaf blades with red tips. Common name is in reference to the lavender-blue color on the stem bases. Genus name comes from the Latin schizein meaning to split and achyron meaning chaff. Blue-green foliage emerges in spring and develops a purple cast at the edges for an iridescent mid-summer. For a hardy and beautiful garden accent, Twilight Zone Little Bluestem Grass features attractive upright foliage that is stunning in all four seasons. The seeds are eaten by many species of birds. Deer resistant, this is an excellent grass for pollinator, bird, and wildlife habitat. Flowers are followed by clusters of fluffy, silvery-white seed heads which are attractive and often persist into winter. Purplish-bronze flowers appear in 3” long racemes on branched stems rising above the foliage in August. The foliage turns shades of bronze-orange in the fall. It typically matures to 2-4’ (less frequently to 5’) tall, and features upright clumps of slender, flat, linear green leaves (to 1/4“ wide), with each leaf having a tinge of blue at the base. It was one of the dominant grasses of the vast tallgrass prairie region which once covered rich and fertile soils in many parts of central North America. Schizachyrium scoparium, commonly called little bluestem, is native to prairies, fields, clearings, hills, limestone glades, roadsides, waste areas and open woods from Alberta to Quebec south to Arizona and Florida.

Schizachyrium little blue stem grass