Blue Grama Grass / Bouteloua gracilis

Bouteloua gracilis 'Blonde Ambition'
From High Country Gardens in spring 2018
And three from the Waterwise sale in spring 2019

Photos

Expectations:

Warm season grass. Cut back to 3 inches of stubble each year in spring. It won't really get going til hot weather later in spring.

It's an interesting, frothy looking clump grass. The midsummer chartreuse flowers are described as "eyelash" like and are supposed to bounce in the breeze.

They age to blonde seedheads in fall. 

Experiences:

Originally I put one by the gate in the kitchen courtyard, but it was so wispy and open looking, it got lost against the fence there. I took it out.

In 2019 I added three in a semicircle around the brown pot in the front yard. I used them to replace the three dwarf chamisas (snakeroots?) that had been there. Not a strong accent and they took forever to grow in spring, waiting for hot weather. Rabbits loved them to the ground. I took them out when I redesigned that area.

In 2021 I put one rescued clump in a pot. When I dug it up, it broke into clumps, but I put all of them back together in the pot. All the clumps thrived and put on size.

2023 and winter 2024

2024

By 2023 they were too big for the pot and I put one clump in front of the shepherd's crook to hide the bottom stems of the clematis there, and the other up against the fence next to a new ironwood tree. (I first put that one in a spot in the flagstones, but then moved it back to the fence when I put the ironwood in the flagstone patch).

Both were great spots -- the clump in front of the clematis is eye-catching even in winter, and the plant in front of the vine glows against the green foliage. 

In 2024 they looked great.

🌾