Company Name

Native American Grasses for Drier Sites

Grasses are useful in different types of landscapes ranging from formal gardens to native, plains and meadows. Native grasses add a sense of place to Colorado gardens. Settlers moving from east to west found a succession of different grass species. Examining this succession and the differences in climate and soils teaches gardeners about the cultural requirements of native grasses.

In the eastern part of the Midwest, also know as the Corn Belt, grows the tall grass prairie. The grass in this area can reach the height of a person or more. The soil is highly organic, the climate is more humid, and the soil moisture is more consistent. Dominant grasses include big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), switch grass (Panicum virgatum), and Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans). Rainfall in this region averages 25 to 30 inches or more.

West of the Corn Belt in the present day Wheat Belt lies the transitional mixed grass prairie between tall and short grasses. Rainfall is less in many years and the subsoil is permanently dry, limiting grass height to 2 to 4 feet. Grasses include little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium),

Western wheatgrass (Agropyron smithii), June grass (Koeleria macrantha syn. K. cristata) and needle grass (Stipa spartea). These grasses are mixed with species from the adjoining tall and short grass prairies depending on the soils, year and the rainfall that ranges from an average of 18 to 24 inches.

The Front Range and Eastern Plains of Colorado are part of the short grass prairie that lies in the rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains. This is a high and dry steppe climate dominated by short grasses of inches in height that include buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides) and blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), the state grass of Colorado. The area is semiarid and the average annual rainfall is 10 to 15 inches.

Gardeners growing native gardens should understand the differences in rainfall where these grasses are native and plan supplemental irrigation accordingly. Generally among the natives, the taller the grass, the more water the plant requires.