Dallas Blues Switch Grass

Once novelty items, ornamental grasses are now grown in every garden, and their variety continues to astonish. For ease and durable interest, our native grasses offer some of the best choices, and one you are sure to love is The Dallas Blues Switchgrass. Standing about 5 feet tall, it’s a substantial plant, but not so large that it won’t fit into almost any garden, it’s a grass that keep standing well into winter, when its soft, golden-beige look is super-attractive. The striking silvery blue-green foliage stands boldly upright, and the large, airy panicles of purple-tinged flowers that come late in summer and right through fall, make a bold statement for months and months. Plus, this isn’t an invasive monster, but a compact clump, one that isn’t going to crowd out the plants around it. Enjoying damp soil that other grasses dislike, it is a great choice near a pond or beside water, but it’s just as happy in regular garden conditions too, and needs almost no attention in return for the beauty it brings. Plus, this is a selection of a native grass, and just as good in natural settings as it is in city gardens.

• Upright clump of blue-green leaves with silvery overtones
• Large, airy panicles of beige flower and seed heads
• Non-invasive, clump forming ornamental grass
• Blooms from mid-summer right into fall, and looks great in winter too
• More tolerant of damp conditions than most other grasses

Grow the Dallas Blues Switchgrass is full sun, or with a little shade for part of the day. It enjoys best being grown in moist soils of any type, from sands to clays. It will also be perfectly happy in average to drier soils, but there are many other grasses that enjoy drier conditions, while one for damp places is rarer. It even takes occasional flooding, so it’s perfect near water, or in low-lying areas. In good growing conditions it almost never has any pest or disease problems. Although tolerant of heat, it grows best with good air-movement, and you might see a little foliage rust in heavy, humid weather. Cut dead foliage back anytime between fall and spring, but don’t wait until new growth appears, or you might cut that as well.