Weedwoman, I can now identify one grass too. One. :-) Danetherton-Thank you so much for the information on this particular grass. I purchased 20 acres of land in eastern Kansas and am trying to identify what I can and then maintain what is native to the area. The more I learn, the more I find out that just about everything out there is not native.....acres of honeysuckle in the woods....autumn olive everywhere.... This plant has been intriguing to me because nothing seems to chew on the leaves and all those beautiful leaves seemed that one day they'd produce some sort of interesting flower. Well, makes me laugh that it's a grass, but at least it's a native and it's growing in an area that it obviously loves. I don't think I'll ever have quail visiting (too many dogs running around) but those deer tongue will be there if they ever do visit. Appreciate the "tickle a**" story too. Hahahaha.

Good luck getting away with your car not full to the brim. Hubby said people were just handing him stuff to put in our car last swap we went to :-)

I'll second what Viburnumvalley wrote about starting your own thicket of Aralia spinosa - all you have to do is pull up a small stem or two from an existing thicket, taking at least a few roots along with it, or even just the tissue along the stem where roots emerged before you pulled it. If you get only a few roots - and you probably will if you just yank one out of the ground - remove most of the leaves from the stem, leaving only a few small or partial leaves, or perhaps no leaves, then plant it where you want it, water, and keep the soil moist for a month or two. Eventually the stem will grow new roots and new leaves, and you've got a plant. I've done this a few times, sometimes failing to keep the soil consistently moist, and have had perhaps 75% success. If I was planting this again, I'd pull a bunch of stems and plant more than I think I want. This is a rather gaunt plant that looks better with multiple stems, so plant 4 where you want one, and if your success is the same as mine you have a very good chance that at least one will take root, and probably you'll end up with two or three which will make an attractive stand of Aralia. now is a good time of year to transplant aralia spinosa because there should be small (perhaps 1 or 2 foot), new shoots emerging from the ground that lend themselves to transplanting. I think older shoots would work too, but they're larger and harder to handle. If you see this plant along a roadside, powerline, or edge you may be able to find new shoots emerging from the ground in a place where they will eventually be cut, mowed, or sprayed. These are good candidates for transplanting without having any impact at all on the parent clump of plants. Of course I wouldn't worry too much about pulling up a few shoots from any healthy clump - a healthy plant produces enough new growth that it can easily afford to lose a few shoots. Wear thick gloves.

Full sun flowers might include: Penstemon, clumping Solidago (for fall interest), Lobelias if it is moist enough, Rudbeckia or coneflower. I think that it might be too hot for Heuchera - that would be true for Georgia. As to grasses - I think that is a personal preference. I don't find a lot of them available in nurseries. But Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) is certainly very nice if you can get it.