donn, thanks. 24/7 sun is quite a feat in the NYC area. ;>) yes, indeed, indeed! why do you think I cling to this funky old old house...great garden! hakonochlea, what a great idea. I could use that along the edges maybe & the little bluestem across the center, which definitely would be too hot & dry, I think, for the Hak. plants will be watered the first season, but what I want to eventually establish would be something sturdy enough to deal with those occasional super dry summers that we get. soil here is good & maintained with regular composts, but I want to get away from any but emergency supplemental watering. how does the deschampsia look by the end of the summer? reason I am clinging to the bluestem is that I want a big Sept/Oct grass finale thing.

They're different cultivars...and there are at least two more blue cultivars as well; 'Blue Heaven' AKA MinnBlueA and 'Aldous.' 'Prairie Blues' and 'Aldous' can be successfully grown from seed, while the other two are less cooperative. 'Blue Heaven' AKA MinnBlueA is the tallest and most erect in habit. All 4 are different shades of blue, ranging from blue/green ('Aldous') to steel blue/burgundy ('Blue Heaven').

Big Bluestem is not a scourge in my book. BUT in this conversation , many things are called Bluestem and they are not even of the same family as each other. Big bluestem is Androgon gerardi which is different from Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium). They are totally different from KR bluestem (Bothriochloa ischaemum var. songarica is in the same family as Silver bluestem )Botriochia laguroides ssp.torreyana and Botriochloa barbinodis. These grasses don't look a like and come from different continents. It is confusing because there are many many bluestem varieties within the various species. It gets mind boggling. I do a lot of walking around and looking in fields and gardens. TXranger is much better at grass IDing than me. God luck. Right now, I am trying to tell the difference in the field between Silver Bluestem and Cane Bluestem. They are both blooming and look similar in the pics online. I am trying to collect seed and want the cane bluestem. I do not want to be seeding non native purposely by accident . If you know what I mean. How do I tell them apart. I go to google and type in their names and pull up images. Ladybird Johnson wildflower center data base is a good place to go . So is Santa Rosa Garden Gardens has a bunch of bluestem.

Gee Mara, I wish I had some jobs in like that. I'm jealous (boo hoo). The joys of being self employed, up and down, feast or famine. "Stay calm..." Mexican Orchid trees are pretty. There are several small trees that grow "down there" I wish I could grow if I had a larger piece of property. Jay, A few years ago, I stumbled across a variety of Missouri Primrose with much bluer leaves than than the species and the flowers are a bit lighter and softer yellow. I got a seed pod to start my own and really like it better in all respects: form, size, color. I was considering the tall annual Diamond Primrose Oenothera I mentioned for that very dry spot on the difficult west side I am constantly experimenting with. Out front I imagine it would be too wide and take too much space. I wouldn't mind tall but I don't want wide. The Rayless Gaillardia is easy from seed but not the prolific seeder like annual gaillardia. Now that I'm growing it, I notice them here and there along the roadsides in spring---red balls sitting on top of tall stiff stems, hard to miss but not overly common on my routes. A cute thing about them is the way they turn toward the sun during the day, like little heads. Its charming and has personality. My patch is slowly getting larger although I read it is a short lived perennial. Its an evergreen mat in winter or when not blooming if you cut the stalks. Time will tell if its short lived, this was the third year for the original patch. They don't seem to self sow much and mine are in a good spot for self sowing--gravel on sand, most seeds seem to love that. I planted G. aestivalis and love it but I've only ended up with a couple plants each year so far by direct sowing. Its very delicate and subtle.