Scientific Name: Andropogon gerardii
Common Name: big blue stem
Native Range: Canada to Mexico
Zone: 4 to 9
Plant type & Form: Ornamental grass
Height: 4.00 to 6.00 feet
Spread: 2.00 to 3.00 feet
Bloom Time: September to February
Bloom Description: Purplish-red
Flower: Flowering stems rise in late summer above the foliage clump bearing purplish 3-parted, finger-like flower clusters (to 4″ long)
Leaf: upright clump of stems with flattened leaves (to 2′ long and 3/8″ wide) which emerge gray to blue green in spring, mature to green with red tinges in summer and turn reddish bronze with lavender tones in autumn after frost
Sun: Full
Water: Dry to medium
Soil type & pH: Puts out lots of growth in moist, fertile soils, but is less apt to topple in dryish, infertile soils
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Naturalize
Tolerates: Deer, Drought, Erosion, Dry Soil, Black Walnut, Air Pollution
Identification notes: Look for flowers that resemble turkey feet (hence the additional common name of turkeyfoot grass for this species)
The linear spikes of spikelet pairs are themselves arranged in a subdigitate fashion. When three spikes predominate at the end of a branch, a turkey foot appearance is approximated, thus rendering one of the common names of this species.
Although hairy about the collar and auricle region, the ligule is mostly membraneous.