Wildflower Wednesday: A Cool, Cool Season Native Grass Lesson

Poverty Oat Grass early summer 2013

 I love my cool season grasses. They're the first grasses to green up and by the time the warm season grasses are knee high they've begun to set seed! It's a puzzle to me why they're still overlooked, underestimated, unappreciated and in some cases still unknown. On the whole they're easy peasy plants that would grow well in many of our garden settings.

Poverty Oat Grass behind the chair frames late spring 2015

Most cool season grasses don't make as big a show as our handsome warm season native grasses, but, they play an important ecological role in plant communities by providing food (forage and seed) and cover early in the growing season when most other plants are just waking up! That's a lot of coolness!

It was easy for me to be open to its charms,  I never wanted to mow grass when I could have wildflowers

Poverty Oat Grass/Danthonia spicata is a particular favorite of mine. It's a wispy, slender bladed bunch grass that starts growing in the cooler weather of Spring, then flowers and sets seed in the early summer. I find the name is perfect for a grass that grows in the most inhospitable of spaces: dry upland woods and forests, upland prairies, glades, tops of bluffs, old fields, eroded pastures, roadsides and dry disturbed areas. Anywhere the soil is dry and sterile.

Of course, you won't be surprised if I tell you it's naturally occurring in my garden! Parts of this garden are indeed dry and inhospitable, with shallow soil that sits on top of limestone boulders and bedrock. An especially inhospitable spot is sited right next to the Blue Bottle Tree! I can't recall exactly what had been there before, possibly remnants of the previous owner's lawn, some very lovely Lyre Leaf sages and in the shade, beneath the Burr Oak were patches of Danthonia spicata. Traditionally, it was mowed to create a negative space to help balance the exuberance of my wildflowers. I knew that something more could be done with such a charming little grass so I transplanted a dozen small clumps late one fall to that inhospitable, shallow soil! The fall rains arrived and they settled in nicely.

The following spring the grass began to grow. It was wispy and delicate, really quite lovely. In June it began setting seed and the following month there was a sea of silvered foliage as the plant went dormant.

 It was stunning and a success.

Fast forward to summer 2015! Not so good. After a year of neglect (I was out for surgeries) the lawnette was crowded with Susans, Fleabane, Vernonia seedlings, non-native clover and real weeds! It was lovely where the wildflowers hadn't encroached on the Danthonia spicata, but, the large expanse of silvery lawn was absent.

I wondered if the Danthonia experiment was a failure and if not what could be done? After a lot of thought and studying the lawnette, here's what I concluded.

When wildflower experts say "This grass does not tolerate competition from taller growing vegetation." they mean it! Keep out trespassing wildflowers!

When experts say this "grass prefers  dry-mesic to dry conditions" they mean it!  We can't control the weather, but, we can control watering.

There's no such thing as a maintenance free lawnette! Weeding is necessary, since there can be too many Susans; Vernonia and other colonizers will seed every where (seedlings can be transplanted); and clover is too aggressive and just needs to go!

There are plenty of lessons and do overs in a garden!

It's all so much fun!

What makes this experiment a success for me?

It's relatively low maintenance: (no watering, no fertilizer, no pesticides, no mowing, just occasional weeding.

It's sustainable.

Increased biodiversity~natives grasses in general are host plants for many butterflies and skippers.

It's charming.

It's lovely.

The seed is viable in the soil for decades~it will replenish itself.

It was fun.

Isn't learning new information, having fun and creating a garden that feeds one's soul while taking care of wildlife what wildflower gardening is all about?

Happy wildflower gardening my friends.
xoxogail


The Particulars:

Poverty oat grass is a cool season, bunch grass (no stolens or rhizomes) that is best suited for poor, dry, rocky soils where it forms dense clumps of curly basal growth. It does not tolerate competition from taller  plants. Remove fallen leaves in a woodland setting. Easily grown from seed, germinates quickly.

Range:  Native to Middle Tennessee, it can be found almost everywhere in the US and Canada. (Zone 3 to 8)

Exposure: Full Sun/Shade/Partial Shade

Soil: Dry and poor

Flowering: June, sets seed and then goes dormant. The inflorescence is small and delicate

Wildlife value: Food, shelter, host plant for several skippers, moths and some grasshoppers

Plants are available locally from GroWild Nursery and you can order seeds from Prairie Moon Nursery.

Thank you for stopping by and welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. WW is about sharing and celebrating wildflowers from all over this great big, beautiful world. Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are in bloom or not; and, it doesn't matter if we all share the same plants. It's all about celebrating wildflowers. Please leave a comment when you add your url to Mr Linky.




Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wildflower Wednesday: Poverty Oat Grass

 But, its real charm is the twisted beige winter foliage

Danthonia spicata won't be found among the ornamental grasses offered by most nurseries.  It isn't a big sexy grass with showy inflorescence, but, it has much to offer for gardeners who love native plants.

Danthonia starting to fill in the lawnette

I love that it will grow on dry, rocky and poor soils where one might assume nothing could possibly grow. So it's probably no surprise that it is found naturally growing at Clay and Limestone. I've plenty of thin soil sitting on top of rock and Poverty Oat Grass is growing right on top of it.

I had already fallen for its charms long before I stumbled upon it's identity.  After all, here was a plant that grew were absolutely nothing else would and it required very little care.  It has a  ground cover effect where it has been allowed to seed and spread. But, its real charm is  the twisted beige winter foliage.

But, that's not all! It has wildlife value! Various insects feed on the foliage, including several really cute skippers and small critters use the foliage for protective cover. It's also deer proof! Btw, that's becoming increasingly important to me! 

source: Matthew Perry

It's very happy in the semi-shade of the Bur Oak and is the primary grass in the Blue Bottle Tree lawnette. There's something  pleasantly calming about mowed greenery amidst the exuberance of my native plantings, but, I'm thinking of letting the danthonia flower and go to seed.  I want to see the plant in full growth and see the inflorescence that has been described as small and delicate. It's a airy grass that may look lovely en mass.  In addition to all those good reasons, there's one more: letting it go to seed means more plants since, this little grass does not spread by rhizomes. 

In case you were wondering: 


Danthonia spicata is technically a cool season perennial bunchgrass that can be found growing in most of North America except California, Nevada and Utah (not to worry Danthonia californica grows there). 
Native cool season grasses grow and reproduce in cooler conditions, offering forage in early spring, fall, and part of winter, and seed by early summer.  They grow well under the shade found in woodlands or in moist and dry prairies and are easily propagated from seed.  Chasmanthium latifolium (River Oats) and Elymus hystrix (Bottlebrush Grass)  are two other native cool season grasses that you are more likely to encounter  in the trade. Bunch grasses form one clump (or bunch) and do not produce well developed rhizomes or stolons. Gardeners who want to move away from the high maintenance of  turf grasses should consider  bunch grasses. Both cool and warm season bunch grasses fulfill an important ecological role in prairies and other natural communities.  They can play a similar role in our gardens.  These grasses provide food (forage and seeds) early in the growing season as well as cover for wildlife.

I am happy to report that if you want to give Poverty Oat Grass a try in that very difficult, poor dry soil you can now find seed. Try searching the internet or you can visit Prairie Moon Nursery.

It's a really cool grass. Trust me!  Have I ever steered you wrong!
xxoogail

Thank you for stopping by and welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. WW is about sharing and celebrating wildflowers from all over this great big, beautiful world. Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are in bloom or not; and, it doesn't matter if we all share the same plants. It's all about celebrating wildflowers. Please leave a comment when you add your url to Mr Linky.  




Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone."