Sideoats Grama

Bouteloua curtipendula

Hills guide picknative · Hill Countrysold locally

Sideoats Grama is a grass native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 2–3 ft tall and 1 ft wide. It wants full sun or part shade and low water, and handles caliche and clay soil. Blooms yellow in mid spring. Good for birds and butterflies.

Will it grow in your yard?

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From our guide

Village of the Hills

The state grass of Texas. Fine-textured with distinctive seed spikelets hanging from one side of the stem.

Why it works here

Larval host for several skippers, easy from seed, and thrives on thin rocky soil where turf fails.

Watch out

Warm-season — it browns in winter. That is dormancy, not death.

The facts

8 sources

Type: Grass
Sun: Full sun to part shade (3+ hrs)
Water: Low
Height: 2–3 ft
Spread: 1 ft
Bloom: Mid Spring · yellow
Foliage: Deciduous
Soil: Takes caliche and clay · recorded on clay, dry, limestone, loam, moist, sand, well drained
Deer: Moderate — deer may browse it, especially new growth. Grazed by deer and livestock
Wildlife: Supports birds and butterflies

Size, sun, water and foliage from the Village of the Hills guide; the rest resolved across sources.

Where it grows

Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:

Balcones CanyonlandsLlano UpliftEdwards Plateau WoodlandNorthern Blackland PrairieSouthern Post Oak SavannaFloodplains and Low TerracesLimestone Cut PlainSan Antonio Prairie

1,882 occurrence records in Central Texas (GBIF).

Can you buy it?

Sold at local nurseries. A Central Texas grower lists it; sizes were not published.

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.