Little Bluestem
Schizachyrium scopariumLittle Bluestem is a grass native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 3–4 ft tall and 1.5 ft wide. It wants full sun and low water, and handles caliche and 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 Little Bluestem against your microclimate, then ranks it against your sun, your watering and deer pressure.
From our guide
Village of the HillsUpright prairie bunchgrass, blue-green in summer turning copper and russet after frost, holding that color all winter.
Why it works here
Larval host for several skipper butterflies, winter seed and cover for birds, and genuinely beautiful from October through March.
Watch out
Flops in rich or irrigated soil. It wants lean ground and full sun.
The facts
8 sources- Type
- Grass
- Sun
- Full sun (6+ hrs)
- Water
- Low
- Height
- 3–4 ft
- Spread
- 1.5 ft
- Bloom
- Summer · yellow
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Soil
- Takes caliche and clay · recorded on clay, dry, limestone, rocky, sand, well drained
- Deer
- High — deer rarely browse it. Grasses generally ignored
- Wildlife
- Supports birds and butterflies
Where it grows
Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:
2,544 occurrence records in Central Texas (GBIF).
Can you buy it?
In the Village of the Hills guide, but not on the grower stock lists we read yet. Ask a native-plant nursery.