Ornamental Grasses Native to Wyoming

Spring Grasses

• Cool season ornamental grasses native to Wyoming include Indian rice grass, basin wildrye, bluebunch wheatgrass and prairie Junegrass. Each has green foliage and produces yellow flowers, with the exceptions of the basin wildrye, which has tan colored flowers, and bluebunch, which has green-to-blue foliage color. Bluebunch wheatgrass grows between 1 to 2 feet in height, like Indian rice grass. Bluebunch can be used as livestock feed in addition to use in your landscape. Basin wildrye grows much taller -- between 5 to 8 feet -- and prairie Junegrass grows the shortest, between 6 inches to 1 1/2-feet tall.

Summer

• Indian rice grass grows in the spring, summer and fall. It provides a food source for birds as well as mammals. It is not to be confused with Indian grass, also native to Wyoming, but which is a warm season grass, growing and flowering in the summer only. Big bluestem, another summer ornamental grass native to Wyoming, grows tall (5 to 7 feet) and makes a good border plant for your landscape. Choose little bluestem, another native ornamental for this area, if you need a shorter height option, as it reaches only 2 to 3 feet tall and boasts gray-green foliage. Sideoats gramma is another native Wyoming grass that flowers in the summer, along with blue gramma and switchgrass.

Fall

• Fall season grasses include Indian rice grass and basin wildrye, as well as bluebunch wheatgrass. Big bluestem, another fall flowering ornamental native to Wyoming, offers a change in colors from the usual yellow found in the other native Wyoming ornamentals. Big bluestem has a red-blue flower color instead, and little bluestem, another Wyoming native, has flowers that are reddish in color, too. Other fall flowering ornamental grasses native to Wyoming include blue gramma and prairie Junegrass.

Significance

• Planting ornamental grasses in your Wyoming landscape can aid wildlife and beautify your lawn --- as well as potentially be a source for a fuel alternative in America. According to NPR switchgrass, the ornamental native grass of Wyoming which grows as tall as 9 feet, can be marketed for ethanol production.