Growing Prairie Dropseed Grass (Sporobolus heterolepis): Capturing the Beauty of the Prairie Grasses in Your Home Landscape

The native ornamental grasses have come into horticultural prominence over the past decade as we gardeners now appreciate their ornamental virtues and value for habitat creation in our landscapes. It has also become apparent, that a handful of Old World ornamental grasses can be weedy or even invasive in some parts of the US. But rather than abandon the use of ornamental grasses, there is the opportunity to replace them with beneficial native species. This is especially true now that progressive nurseries (like High Country Gardens and others) are selecting, propagating and growing a much larger selection of native species as well as many new and improved cultivars (now often referred to as "nativars"*).

One of the very best of our native prairie grasses is Sporobolus heterolepis (Prairie Dropseed). Prairie Dropseed, native to the mid-section of the US and Canada, has much to recommend it. A warm-season bunch grass (grows in a clump and doesn't run with underground stolons) with finely textured, arching foliage and tan colored sprays of summer flowers, it grows readily in sun and part sun in a variety of soils and moisture levels.

I didn't know this until I researched the species for this blog, but Sporobolus heterolepis has a special photosynthetic metabolism, typically found in cacti. This allows it to adapt to growing in hot, dry conditions once established. Called C4 metabolism, the grass stores up the sun's energy during the day, but actually processes the energy to convert to stored starches during the night, when the moisture loss associated with daytime photosynthetic activity, is minimized.

This grass looks great with most any companion plant; it's such a pretty grass whose texture and leave color makes all the plants around it look better. A medium sized species (blooming at 3 ft. in height), pair it up with taller growing perennials like:

• Echinops (Globe Thistle)
• Eryngium yuccafolium (Rattlesnake Master)
• Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed)
• Monarda (Beebalm)
• Solidago (Goldenrod)

As well as other native ornamental grasses such as:

• Schizachyrium (Little Bluestem)
• Panicum (Prairie Switchgrass)
• Bouteloua 'Blonde Ambition' ('Blonde Ambition' Blue grama grass)
• Andropogon gerardii (Big Bluestem)