Sun Exposure: Full Sun
Soil Moisture: Medium, Medium-Dry, Dry
Soil Type: Sand, Loam, Loam-Clay, Gravely
Height: 2 feet
Spread: 2 - 3 feet
Blooms: August, September
Root: Fibrous, Rhizomatous to form dense clumps
Habitat: Hill Prairies, Gravel Prairies, Thinly wooded bluffs and barrens, Limestone glades
Landscape uses: Pollinator garden, Naturalization, Drought Tolerant
Complimentary Plants: Slender Mountain Mint, Smooth Aster, Black-eyed Susan
Wildlife Value: Grasshoppers eat the leaves. Host plant: Leonard's Skipper, The leafhoppers Flexamia albida, Flexamia pectinata and Laevicephalus minimus are specialist feeders (oligophages) of Side Oats Grama. The seeds are eaten by upland gamebirds and granivorous songbirds.
Seed Origin: Coldwater, Ontario
Germination Code: A
Photo credits: #1 by Erutuon, #2 by Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, #3 by Tom Koerner/USFWS, #4 by Matt Lavin
Bouteloua curtipendula - Side Oats Grama
Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula) is a lovely warm-season grass with small oat-like seeds that dangle along one side of the stalk. This grass has tiny attractive blooms in bright orange and purple during the summer. Design your garden or meadow with this medium height grass to give texture and four season interest. Sideoats Grama is a larval host plant for several Skipper butterflies, moths, and leafhoppers.