BLUE GRAMA GRASS
(Bouteloua gracilis)
By Janice Tucker

Family: Grass (Poaceae)
Common name: Blue grama grass
Botanical name: (Bouteloua gracilis)

“Grass” is often all but banned from the Santa Fe gardener’s vocabulary. But, some grasses are both acceptable and encouraged. Blue grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis) is a very desirable plant. It was named the official state grass of New Mexico in 1973 and is also the state grass of Colorado.

Blue grama is a warm season, tufted native perennial grass. While it is a desirable, water-wise grass for the home garden, Blue grama is predominate in the tall grass prairies found throughout the southwestern United States. It can withstand and even thrive from the cold, arctic air that blows through the prairies in the winter followed by hot, dry summers.

This grass is excellent for erosion control. Its dense root mass absorbs moisture quickly, and will hold down the soil to keep it from blowing away, especially during the fierce wind storms that sweep the prairies such as the ones during the Dust Bowl areas in the 1930s.

Blue grama grows between 6 to 18 inches high. Leaves are flat and pointed at the end, growing between 1 to 10 inches long and 1/8 inch wide.

The tiny, inconspicuous inflorescence (flowers) usually bloom in June. Each flower, consisting of 20 to 90 little spikelets, is borne atop stems from 7 to 18 inches tall. After the bloom, purple-brown seed heads resembling tiny brushes or “eyebrows” appear. The species name gracilis means graceful, which is evident when the crescent-shaped seed heads perched atop the slender, willowy stems, sway to and fro with the slightest breeze.

Propagation is primarily by seeds and short rhizomes. It is a bunch grass, forming open sod mats, slowly spreading outward from the parent plants. In its natural habitat, this grass begins to grow around mid-April when soil temperature reaches about 52 degrees F. The grass fades to a pale brown as it goes dormant in the winter and/or when there is a drought. If plowed under or disturbed, Blue grama grass can take as long as 50 years to re-establish.

In the home garden, Blue grama grass should be planted in full sun in good, well-drained soil. It can withstand heat, cold, dry spells and mowing. It doesn’t particularly like shade. It is an ideal plant for rock gardens. The seed heads give texture and form to seasonal dried arrangements.

Blue grama is excellent forage for livestock and wild animals. The seeds attract birds and the plant is the larval host of the Uncas skipper butterflies. Native Americans used to claim the number of seed heads on the Blue grama grass stems could predict the severity of the following winter. One seed head per stem predicted a mild winter and multiple seed heads meant a harsh, cold winter was ahead. Native Americans also ground the seeds and used them to make bread and mush.

Blue grama grass is found everywhere in and around Santa Fe. It grows wild in fields and in well-tended home gardens. An abundance of this grass grows in the dry life zones on the North and South Trails at Santa Fe Botanical Garden’s Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve.

Blue grama is grass without guilt. Plant it in your garden with a clear conscience.