Big Bluestem
Andropogon gerardiinative · Hill Countrysold locally
Big Bluestem is a grass native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 3–6 ft tall and 2 ft wide. It wants full sun or part shade and low water, and handles clay soil. Blooms yellow in summer. Deer rarely browse it. Good for birds and butterflies.
Will it grow in your yard?
Enter your ZIP. The finder checks Big Bluestem against your microclimate, then ranks it against your sun, your watering and deer pressure.
The facts
6 sources- Type
- Grass
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade (4–8 hrs of direct sun)
- Water
- Low
- Height
- 3–6 ft
- Spread
- 2 ft
- Bloom
- Summer · yellow
- Foliage
- Deciduous or dies back in winter
- Soil
- Takes clay · recorded on sand, loam, clay, calcareous, moist
- Deer
- High — deer rarely browse it
- Wildlife
- Supports birds and butterflies
Where it grows
Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:
Balcones CanyonlandsNorthern Blackland PrairieSouthern Post Oak SavannaFloodplains and Low TerracesLimestone Cut PlainSan Antonio Prairie
Can you buy it?
Sold at local nurseries. Confirmed in stock at a Central Texas grower in these sizes:
2.5 and 4 inch pots
From the growers we read so far — a short list, not the whole trade. Call ahead.
also grows from seed It starts readily from seed, so a packet from a native-seed supplier, or seed collected with permission, is often the easiest way to get a plant no nursery pots.