This was one of the important grasses of the mid-western prairies. Survives occasional flooding and repeated burning. Plant in the rear of a wildflower garden. The flower/fuit stalk is quite showy with a golden plume (the stamens are yellow)in mid-fall. The stems and fruit retain a golden straw color through the fall. The remainder of the year, the grass is much lower (about 2 ft) and blue-green in color.

Groundcover for dry sites. Clonal (forms small clumps of stems).It has deep red foliage in fall.

Understory tree. Can be trimmed to keep sized as a shrub. Accent shrub or can be trained as a hedge.

This plant can be used as a background planting that will create a light orange haze during the late fall and winter months. Andropogon virgnicus var. glaucus (chalky bluestem) is very light blue-green in color and grows in dry sites. Background planting or as a casual tall bunching or clumping grass in meadow-like settings.

Makes a good border plant that becomes a pink haze in the fall.