VeraScape
GrassDrought tolerantRain gardenSlopesDeer resistantNativeFall colorWinter interest

Big Bluestem

Andropogon gerardii

A tall native prairie grass with blue-green blades that turn russet-orange in fall and stand through winter. Its deep roots make it drought-proof once settled and hold slopes against erosion, and deer leave it alone. It's slow to establish, and shade or rich soil make it flop, so give it full sun and lean ground.

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Big Bluestem: whole plant
Photo: Matt Lavin from Bozeman, Montana, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Mature size
6 × 2.5 ft
1.8 × 0.8 m, tall × wide
Hardiness
Zones 3a–9a
USDA
Sun
Full sun
Water
Dry to moist
Blooms
Aug–Sep
Fall color Oct–Nov

Big Bluestem at its mature size

A mature Big Bluestem grows 4 to 8 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide.

Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.

Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension.

Through the year

What Big Bluestem looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.

Dormant · Dec–Feb

Dried coppery-tan leaves and stalks, faded, still upright.

Below ground · Mar–Apr

Cut back; new shoots barely out of the ground.

In leaf · May–Jul

Upright clump of narrow blue-green leaves, no flower stalks yet.

In flower · Aug–Sep

Tall thin stalks rising above the leaves, topped with forked turkey-foot seed heads, reddish-purple.

Fall · Oct–Nov

Whole clump turned coppery red-bronze and orange, seed stalks standing.

Photos

Big Bluestem: whole plant
Whole plant · Matt Lavin from Bozeman, Montana, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Big Bluestem: flowers
Flowers · peterwchen, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Big Bluestem: whole plant
Whole plant · Matt Lavin from Bozeman, Montana, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Big Bluestem: flowers
Flowers · Matt Lavin from Bozeman, Montana, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Growing Big Bluestem

Grows well in
The Northeast, the Southeast, the Midwest, and the Plains and Mountain West.
Good for
Drought tolerant, rain garden, slopes, deer resistant, fall color, and winter interest
Leaves
Dies back in winter
Native to
North America

Spacing

VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Big Bluestem, that’s about 2.5 ft apart, center to center.

Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.

Other bluestems

All drawn to the same scale.

Little Bluestem3 × 2.5 ft · Zones 3a–9b