Sorghastrum nutans, Yellow Indiangrass

Sorghastrum nutans 

Yellow Indiangrass

  • Average to Very Dry Soils
  • Full Sun to Very Light Shade
  • 4’ tall, can reach 6’ with tall neighbours and ideal conditions, 2’ to 3’ spacing 
  • Summer Blooms, Fall Seed Heads
  • Ontario Native, Thrives in Meadow and Dry Meadow Ecosystems

While I’m never comfortable with writing ‘Indian’ as a name for a plant that comes from Turtle Island (as opposed to India) this seems to be the accepted common name for this lovely grass.

Clump forming, with a mature spread of up to 3’, these are worth considering as a landscape alternative to introduced species such as Calamagrostis and Miscanthus. In tallgrass prairies, these grow alongside Big Bluestem and Switchgrasses.

Best in full sun with average soil conditions. I would interplant these with asters and goldenrods, as well as earlier blooming meadow species such as Liatris, Penstemon and Coreopsis. If you plan a planting with shorter spring and summer and taller late summer and fall blooming species, you can end up with a meadow that progresses nicely through each growing year.

Photos from my garden and Matt Lavin, Matt Lavin and Jennifer Anderson via Wikipedia Commons 

The Online Plant Nursery will re-open for orders on Tuesday, May 17th

Pickups will begin the following week.

I will be offering plug sized plants for $1.25 each or 5 for $5. 

I'm in the process of adding species that I expect to offer this spring to the listings since they are starting to germinate and I'm starting to get an idea of which will be available in abundant quantities.

Since the list is much longer this year I've added several categories to help narrow down your options based on a variety of criteria.

For those who have already adopted seedlings, planting instructions can be found here.
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