‘Seasons in the Sun’, a Colorful New Little Bluestem for Landscapes

Schizachyrium scoparium, little bluestem, is a warm-season perennial grass native to much of North America. This drought-tolerant plant is tough and adaptable. It is becoming more popular in landscaping due to its low maintenance and attractive foliage, as well as increasing interest in using native plants. A new cultivar of little bluestem, ‘Seasons in the Sun’, was developed from a project between the University of Georgia and USDA.  Little bluestem accessions were evaluated in the field, and seeds from open pollination were collected. Selections were made from among the resulting seedlings, and following another round of pollination and seedling evaluation, a plant with colorful foliage was identified.  This plant, coded as B20-10, was propagated via division, and planted in a replicated field plot in Griffin and Blairsville, Georgia (cold hardiness zones 8a and 6b, respectively). Selection B20-10 has soft arching foliage and upright flowering culms. Height after four seasons in the field ranged from 104 to 110 cm at full bloom. Foliage height was 41 to 52 cm and width was 35 to 53 cm. In the spring, foliage is yellow-green at the base, changing to red-purple from mid-way to the distal end of each leaf. Throughout the summer, foliage is a mix of green and grayed-purple. In the fall, the distal 80% of most leaves are purple or greyed-purple. Foliage was similar in color at both Griffin and Blairsville, indicating that color was expressed even with higher summer temperatures. ‘Seasons in the Sun’ is readily propagated via root division.  It has been released as one of three cultivars in the ‘Hit Parade’ series.