The Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) has gone to seed. Little Bluestem is a native grass and considered quite desirable by we naturalist types.

I took a few photos today and you can compare them to my earlier post, at the end of October, to see how its appearance has changed. The entire plant has turned red while just over a month ago it was all green.

This photo was taken from almost the same spot as one in the earlier post, so you can compare.

A Little Bluestem meadow in our backyard!

This photo shows an individual plant. You can see it grows in clumps.

An individual plant.

Here’s another view, from inside the meadow.

The view toward our house.

I don’t know of any other spot on our property where the Little Bluestem is doing so well. We have it throughout, but usually just a few scattered plants – nothing that I would call a predominantly Little Bluestem meadow. Keep in mind that we don’t water it. We don’t irrigate anywhere. That’s part of the reason we value native plant species; they are well-adapted to our area.

Our working theory is that we mow the backyard, although only about 3 or 4 times a year. This knocks back the invasive grass we have, King Ranch Bluestem (Bothriochloa ischaemum), and gives the Little Bluestem a chance to thrive. I suspect the timing of the mowing is important too, but don’t know the details. I’m just glad the Little Bluestem is thriving.