| Description | Smoke Signal Little Blue Stem (Schizachyrium) |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | (skits-ah-KEER-ee-um)(skoh-PAIR-ee-um) |
| Plant Type | Grass Ornamental |
| Hardiness Zone | 3-9 |
| Sunlight | full |
| Moisture | average, moist |
| Soil & Site | average, dry, well drained, sandy |
| Flowers | tan seed heads appear in early fall, borne on an inflorescence as a single raceme |
| Leaves | glaucous blue-green foliage begins to take on scarlet red tones in late summer, turning a deeper red-purple through the fall |
| Stems | holds the strictly upright habit through fall, resists lodging |
| Dimensions | 3-4 by 1.5-2 feet (HS) |
| Maintenance | cut back foliage in the spring |
| Propagation | division |
| Native Site | Species Little Blue Stem native to the North American prairies. |
| Cultivar Origin | Walters Gardens, Zeeland Michigan USA, inventors Hans A. Hansen, Kevin A. Hurd |
| Misc Facts | Genus name Schizachyrium from schizo for "to split" in part. Species name scoparium from Latin scopa for "broom". SYN: Andropogon scoparius |
| Author's Notes | I have grown a few Little Blue Stem cultivars that will have the dark dusky purple foliage in the fall. It seems to me that for this to occur you need close to perfect conditions. During the summer of 2019 in Muskego, Wisconsin USA my Indian Warrior Little Blue Stem lived up to its name. It had nice dark dusky purple foliage. It was a very wet year. This was the first that I got some good results. Maybe Smoke Signal is a better cultivar. |
| Notes & Reference | Walters Gardens web site |
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