© The Dabney Nursery
Plant: Smoke Signal - Little Bluestem Grass
Schizachyrium scoparium 'Smoke Signal'
Size: 1 gal
Light
Bloom
More about this plant
Smoke Signal is an upright, narrow selection of native little bluestem, 3 to 4 feet tall and about 18 inches wide. Its blue-green leaves turn smoky purple through summer and blaze scarlet red in fall, with seed heads that last into winter. It needs full sun and well-drained soil, tolerates drought, heat, poor soil and deer, and works in borders, meadows and mass plantings.
- Full Sun
- Blooms in summer, fall
- Hardy in USDA zones 3-9
Plant description
Smoke Signal is an upright, narrow selection of native little bluestem, 3 to 4 feet tall and about 18 inches wide. Its blue-green leaves turn smoky purple through summer and blaze scarlet red in fall, with seed heads that last into winter. It needs full sun and well-drained soil, tolerates drought, heat, poor soil and deer, and works in borders, meadows and mass plantings.
- Flowers
- Airy, delicate purple-bronze racemes held above the foliage in late summer to early fall, followed by seed heads that persist through winter.
- Foliage
- Fine, linear leaves emerge deep blue-green in spring, take smoky purple tones in summer and turn bright scarlet to red-purple in fall.
- Pruning
- Cut back to the ground in late winter or early spring and keep mulch away from the crown.
- Native range
- Eastern North America
