Plant: Shining Star - Little Bluestem Grass
Schizachyrium scoparium 'Shining Star'
Size: 3 gal
Light
Bloom
More about this plant
Shining Star is a compact selection of little bluestem, a native warm-season grass, forming an upright clump of blue-green foliage about 15 to 18 inches tall that reaches 30 inches in flower. Purple-bronze seed heads and copper fall color carry into winter. It needs full sun, takes poor, dry or clay soil and shrugs off drought and deer. Plant it about 2 feet apart for mass plantings, borders and meadows.
- Full Sun
- Blooms in summer, fall
- Hardy in USDA zones 3-9
- Deciduous foliage
Plant description
Shining Star is a compact selection of little bluestem, a native warm-season grass, forming an upright clump of blue-green foliage about 15 to 18 inches tall that reaches 30 inches in flower. Purple-bronze seed heads and copper fall color carry into winter. It needs full sun, takes poor, dry or clay soil and shrugs off drought and deer. Plant it about 2 feet apart for mass plantings, borders and meadows.
- Flowers
- Purple-bronze racemes rise above the clumps in August.
- Foliage
- Narrow, flat, linear blades about 1/4 inch wide, blue-green in summer turning copper-orange in fall.
- Fruit
- Purple-bronze seed heads give fall and winter interest.
- Pruning
- Cut back to the ground in late winter or early spring and keep mulch away from the crown.
- Native range
- Eastern North America
