Visually, native grasses are beautiful during the summer months, and glorious when they bloom. In the cold seasons they give a winter landscape a delicate and timeless structure. As habitat, our native grasses are an important food source for ground feeding game, various songbirds and small mammals. They are also important element of cover in wildlife habitats, providing nesting and escape cover for fledglings, small mammals, lizards, and amphibians. The increasingly at risk Bobwhite quail also use species of clumping grasses as nest support. Clump forming grasses also offer important nesting sites for bumblebees. Many species are also larval hosts of several butterfly species, among them many in the Skipper group.
Tall Grass Prairies species:
Up above, Little Bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium, grass is considered one of the four most important grasses in the eastern tallgrass prairies. This slender leaved, blue green grass stands 3-4 feet tall. Little Bluestem requires excellent drainage and tolerates poor soils and drought. The seeds are an important of food for songbirds, small mammals and gamebirds. Bluestem also provides important nesting and escape cover for fledglings. Clump forming grasses such as Little Bluestem offer important nesting sites for bumblebees. Larval host for Delaware Skipper Butterfly, Anatrytone logan, Hobomok Skipper, Poanes hobomok, Tawny-edged Skipper Polites themistocles, and Northern Broken-Dash Wallengrenia egeremet.
Another one of the top four, Indian Grass, Sorghastrum nutans (above) is truly big and beautiful in a prairie way. It’s an upright, tall grass with long, slender blades that arch at the top and send up stalks covered in tiny flowers. It is often 4-7 feet tall. This is a big grass that prefers moist soils, and needs a lot of space. The flowers are very small and shimmer, an iridescent gold-green to yellow in color. Flowers are followed by small seeds with a tuft of hair on the end. Clumping roots send out rhizomes. Indian grass is an important source of fall and winter food for ground feeding songbirds, small mammals and game birds. It is also important nesting and escape cover for fledglings. Clump forming grasses offer important nesting sites for bumblebees. Indian grass is the host for Pepper and Salt Skipper Amblyscirtes hegon.
A third member of the top four is Switch Grass, Panicum virgatum, another upright, big grass with long, slender blades that arch at the top and send up stalks covered in tiny flowers. This grass likes moist soils, and can be anywhere from 5-9 feet tall. The flowers are very small and green to yellow colored and are followed by small seeds with a tuft of hair on the end. Birds eat the seeds which last into winter. Clumping roots send out rhizomes. Host for Delaware Skipper Butterfly, Anatrytone logan, Hobomok Skipper, Poanes hobomok, Tawny-edged Skipper, Polites themistocles, and Northern Broken-Dash, Wallengrenia egeremet.
The fourth member of the top four is Big Bluestem, Andropogon gerardii, with large seeds, deep roots, and a tall presence.
Some More Grasses:
Split Beard Bluestem, Andropogon ternarius, (above) is another small bunch grass with pearly white tufts of seeds that glisten in the sun. Look at that fall color! Fall grass seeds are an important of food for migrating songbirds, small mammals and gamebirds.
Silver Plume grass, Erianthus alopecuroides, (above) has tall, elegant stalks topped with silky plumes of seeds. Upright, tall grass with long, blue-green blades that arch at the top and send up stalks covered in small plumed flowers. The flowers are small and pinkish tan with long silvery tufts followed by seeds with a tuft of hairs on the end. Birds eat the seeds which last into winter. This picture is in our sun beds, showing Silver Plume Grass in a stand of ridiculously tall Eared Coneflower, Rudbeckia auriculata, Tall Thoroughwort Eupatorium album, and Tall Ironweed, Vernonia gigantea.
Muhly Grass, Muhlenbergia capillaris, is a tall, semi-upright, spreading grass blades that arch out to make a rounded mass. Flower stalks emerge in the fall topped with tiny, wispy, pink colored hairs that are long lasting and add a dramatic color contrast to the green stalks. Clump forming roots slowly spread to make dense stands. This picture was taken on Sapelo Island, the stand of grass is growing on very sandy soil.
Note to gardeners in the Piedmont or with clay soils: If you plant Muhly Grass, install it on a well drained slope amended with sand. The roots of this grass will rot over the winter if you have clay soils and poor drainage.
