Shenandoah Reed Switch Grass features airy plumes of rose flowers rising above the foliage in mid summer. Its attractive grassy leaves are green in color with prominent ruby-red tips. As an added bonus, the foliage turns a gorgeous burgundy in the fall. The brick red seed heads are carried on showy plumes displayed in abundance from late summer to mid fall. The brick red stems are very colorful and add to the overall interest of the plant.

Big Bluestem, a native grass of the Midwestern prairie, has been rediscovered as a useful and beautiful landscape plant. Drought tolerant and easy to maintain, it is a natural choice for prairie, meadow and naturalistic plantings. But, Andropogon gerardii is also great as a background or accent in mixed plantings. Big Bluestem is especially interesting when in bloom - its curiously shaped seed heads resemble upside-down turkey feet.

Big Blackhawk Bluestem brings the bold, sweeping drama of the prairie into the home garden. This stately native grass forms tall, upright clumps that climb to three to five feet, adding vertical structure and graceful movement wherever it’s planted. Native to the central and eastern United States, it thrives in full sun and lean, dry soil, growing tougher and more drought-tolerant with each passing season. As autumn arrives, its green blades take on warm coppery-bronze tones that catch the late-season light and persist into winter. Songbirds feed on its seed heads through the cold months, and it’s seldom browsed by deer. Plant it in sweeping masses on a sunny slope or as a living screen—it’s prairie grandeur at its finest.