Plants: Andropogon gerardii - Big Bluestem, Turkeyfoot

Big Bluestem is a clump forming perennial grass. The lower stems are purplish or bluish color and the leaves are 1/2 inch wide and up to 20 inches long. The arrangement of the flowers in three dense elongate clusters is the reason for the common name of turkey-foot grass. It grows best in moist well drained soil in full sun and is a major component of the tallgrass prairie. Native grasses are host to several Skipper butterflies.

Use as an accent plant in a formal bed or in the meadow garden with Coneflowers, Black-eyed Susans, Blazing Stars, Asters, and Goldenrods. Occurs naturally in upland prairies, glades, dry upland forest openings, and savannas in the eastern U.S. west to Montana and Arizona, and Mexico into Canada.

Publisher: Hirt's Gardens