{"id":13470,"date":"2022-01-03T18:00:27","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T23:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=13470"},"modified":"2022-01-03T17:37:08","modified_gmt":"2022-01-03T22:37:08","slug":"%ef%bb%bf2022-perennial-plant-of-the-year-little-bluestem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2022\/01\/03\/%ef%bb%bf2022-perennial-plant-of-the-year-little-bluestem\/","title":{"rendered":"\ufeff2022 Perennial Plant Of the Year – Little Bluestem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2022 Perennial Plant Of the Year – Little\nBluestem<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Summer\/Fall Photo credit: Proven Winners<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Perennial Plant Association (PPA) has named its 2022 Perennial of the Year — Little Bluestem (Schizachrium scoparum<\/em>) (USDA hardiness zones 3-9). This ornamental grass was chosen because it is suitable for a wide range of growing climates, is low\u00a0maintenance, and offers multiple-season interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This North American prairie native grass is highly adaptable to several landscape situations. Little bluestem is a warm season clumping grass that features blue tones in its summer foliage and a beautiful array of fall colors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little bluestem thrives in fall sun to partial\nshade and in average to poor dry soils. It is also a larval host to some\nspecies of butterflies and moths. It grows 3-4 feet high and around 1-2 feet\nwide. Avoid wet soils. Resistant to deer &\nrabbit browsing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PPA board members selected several outstanding cultivars based on plant habit, foliage, and fall color well in several regional areas of the U.S. including: \u2018Jazz’, \u2018The Blues\u2019, \u2018Standing Ovation\u2019, \u2018Blue Heaven\u2019, and \u2018Carousel\u2019. The cultivars were bred to be bluer in color and more upright in form. Select the variety that best performs where you garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This ornamental perennial\nwarm-season, clumping grass has silvery-blue stems (particularly at the\nbase) and leaves, making it an attractive addition to the landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little Bluestem is an\nexcellent plant for wildlife. It serves as the larval host for several skipper\nbutterfly species including the Dusted Skipper,<\/a> Cobweb Skipper<\/a>, Ottoe Skipper<\/a>, Indian Skipper<\/a>, Swarthy Skipper<\/a>, and the Crossline Skipper<\/a>. Other insects that feed on Little Bluestem include\ngrasshoppers, Prairie Walkingsticks, the leaf-mining beetles, thrips,\nspittlebugs, and leafhoppers. The seeds of this grass are eaten by songbirds.\nLittle bluestem provides necessary overwintering habitat and food sources for\nmany insects and birds. Female bumble bee queens nest at the base of bunch\ngrasses, like Little Bluestem, where they are protected until they emerge in\nthe spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planting\nideas:<\/strong> a lovely grassy\ntexture for the middle of a perennial border, to soften the edge of a garden\npond, or wind it through a naturalistic planting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Information\nsources:<\/strong> Perennial Plant\nAssociation and American Horticulture Society<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2022 Perennial Plant Of the Year – Little Bluestem The Perennial Plant Association (PPA) has named its 2022 Perennial of the Year — Little Bluestem (Schizachrium scoparum) (USDA hardiness zones 3-9). This ornamental grass was chosen because it is suitable for a wide range of growing climates, is low\u00a0maintenance, and offers multiple-season interest. This North […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,657,1218,1319,1037,1498,778,674,806,1357,774,853,1582,1583,1405,1476,627,625,812,729,630,706,646,819,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13470"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13470"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13472,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13470\/revisions\/13472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}