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Chasmanthium latifolium Indian woodoats
Indian woodoats
Characteristics
Descriptions
Also known as:
river oats
Light Requirements
sun, part-sun, part-shade
Soil Moisture
moist, wet
Soil Description
acid, neutral, rich, average, loam, clay, sand
Height
2'-4'
Bloom Time
June, July, August, September
Bloom Color
green
Hardiness Zone
4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Description
Indian woodoats is a clumping ornamental grass, forming mounds up to 4' tall. Its foliage is graceful and bamboo-like, green to blue green, arching, and turns shades of gold and brown in fall. It is best known for its oat-like, flat, seed heads that are pale green when they emerge, turning to tan, then toast-colored as they mature. They are also responsible for its tendency to colonize a site under optimal conditions. Native to the eastern half of the U.S., Chasmanthium latifolium is often found along streams and on riverbanks, lending it another common name of river oats. It also roams in moist forests, seepages, and glades where the soil is rich.
Cultivation
Chasmanthium latifolium is one of the more shade tolerant ornamental grasses. It can be grown in full sun, so long as it is in a moist environment. It does best in rich, well drained soil, in part-sun, to part-shade. Indian woodoats will readily self seed, producing large colonies that can reduce erosion along stream banks. Putting it in dry, infertile, or compacted soils will reduce spread by seed while its root system helps break up the soil. It's not a good choice for fertile, irrigated garden beds, as it will quickly dominate. To reduce spread, cut off the seed heads before they ripen. Plants should be cut back to their crown in late winter or early spring, before the new growth emerges. Blooms June through September. Zones 4-8
Recommended Spacing
Space plants 12"-18" on center.
Spread with Chasmanthium latifolium is highly dependent on the conditions. In moist, fertile soils, it can quickly spread. In poorer, drier soils, plants are less vigorous, produce fewer seeds, and seeds are less likely to germinate. Spacing new plants 12"-18" apart will provide coverage by the plants themselves without any help from seeds.
Companion Plants
For moist areas, Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower) will poke up through river oats and provide a pop of red. Conoclinium coelestinum (blue mistflower) competes well with river oats, and its lavender-blue flowers looks great next to the golden, fall foliage. Packera aurea (golden ragwort) blooms early in the season before river oats has emerged fully, and the mostly evergreen basal foliage of golden ragwort can provide "shoes and socks" around the crowns of the grass year round.
Additional Notes
Some common names refer to this grass as a type of "sea oat," and it previously shared a genus with the "real" sea oats (Uniola paniculata). However, this common name is somewhat misleading: Chasmanthium latifolium is neither salt tolerant, nor is it salt-spray tolerant. It was named the North Carolina Wildflower of the Year in 1994. The seed stalks are a favorite in dried flower arrangements, and harvesting them prevents spread where it's not wanted!
Pricing & Availability
Would you like your plants shipped later? You may choose to do so in the shopping cart.
Note: Early spring shipments might include plants that have not yet broken dormancy, or have not been vernalized and will be frost-tender. Please use your best judgment when selecting your preferred ship week.
Note: Early spring shipments might include plants that have not yet broken dormancy, or have not been vernalized and will be frost-tender. Please use your best judgment when selecting your preferred ship week.
Did you know? When plants are available from multiple growers, we list growers closest to your location first.
Why choose plants from the nearest grower? Choosing a the grower closest to you makes it more likely the plants are consistent with your ecoregion and better adapted to your location. In addition, shipping plants shorter distances typically uses fewer resources, something we can all get behind!
Why choose plants from the nearest grower? Choosing a the grower closest to you makes it more likely the plants are consistent with your ecoregion and better adapted to your location. In addition, shipping plants shorter distances typically uses fewer resources, something we can all get behind!
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Maps, Wetland Status & More
MAP OF NATIVE RANGE
Recorded County Distribution: USDA data.
Native To
| AL, AR, DC, DE, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MD, MI, MO, MS, NC, NJ, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, VA, WI, WV, AZ, FL, LA, NM, TX |
Legal Status
| Threatened | MI |
Wetland Status
| Arid West | FAC |
| Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain | FAC |
| Eastern Mountains and Piedmont | FACU |
| Great Plains | FACU |
| Midwest | FACW |
| Northcentral and Northeast | FACW |
| Western Mountains, Valleys, and Coast | FAC |
MAP OF WETLAND DELINEATION REGIONS
Interpreting Wetland Status
|
Code |
Status |
Designation |
Comment |
|
OBL |
Obligate Wetland |
Hydrophyte |
Almost always occur in wetlands |
|
FACW |
Facultative Wetland |
Hydrophyte |
Usually occur in wetlands, but may occur in non-wetlands |
|
FAC |
Facultative |
Hydrophyte |
Occur in wetlands and non-wetlands |
|
FACU |
Facultative Upland |
Nonhydrophyte |
Usually occur in non-wetlands, but may occur in wetlands |
|
UPL |
Obligate Upland |
Nonhydrophyte |
Almost never occur in wetlands |
Classification
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants |
| Superdivision | Spermatophyta | Seed plants |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants |
| Class | Liliopsida | Monocotyledons |
| Subclass | Commelinidae | |
| Order | Cyperales | |
| Family | Poaceae | Grass family |
| Genus | Chasmanthium | woodoats |
| Species | Chasmanthium latifolium | Indian woodoats |
ADDITIONAL COMMON NAMES:
wild oats, inland sea oats, river oats, flathead oats, upland oats, upland sea oats, northern sea oats, spangle grass
SCIENTIFIC SYNONYMS:
Uniola latifolia
Plant Sizes
Sizes Sizes
Sizes info
Shipping & Planting
SHIPPING INFO:
Shipping is free on all plants orders!
Your plants will ship using each grower’s preferred method: FedEx Ground, UPS Ground, or Spee-Dee Ground (in select midwestern states). Our growers ship orders Monday through Wednesday. The farther your plants need to travel, the earlier in the week they will ship. The goal is to have all plants delivered by the end of the week.
Shipping plugs:
Plugs are shipped in full flats, sometimes also referred to as trays. Multiple flats can be shipped in a single box. The flats are wrapped in netting or craft paper to secure the plants, and spacers are used between flats to keep the plants from being crushed.
When you unpack your plugs, the plants will have been somewhat flattened by the netting or craft paper. They will straighten out within a couple of days. You may also gently “fluff” them a bit to speed up the process. In some cases, your plants might have been cut back before packing, if the grower deemed them to have become too tall for safe packaging. Don’t worry, though, these guys know what they’re doing and would not compromise the health of the plants. They’ll fill back in in no time.
After receiving your plants’ journey in a dark box, it will be important to acclimate them to sunlight again. Over a couple of days, you should gradually move them into their preferred light exposure, and water them as per their requirement.
Although we always recommend putting your plants in the ground as soon as possible, they can stay healthy in the flats for a considerable amount of time. The key is to respect their growing requirements: if the species requires full sun, do not store them in the shade. If it is best adapted to dry soil, do not over-water.
PLANTING INFO:
Planting plugs:
We consider plugs ready to ship when the plants’ roots have filled the entire liner cell and the plants can easily be pulled out. In some cases you will have to go about it gently, wiggling the plant by the crown, and possibly squeezing the bottom of the liner to compress the growing medium and release the roots. Other times, the plants will appear to be root bound. They are not in the traditional sense. The plants are healthy but they have used up all the growing medium available to them. Plugs are at an aggressive stage of growth. As soon as planted the roots will immediately expand into your native soil. They establish faster than plants in larger containers, because they don’t have the luxury of a lot of growing media that can inhibit the roots from venturing outside of their comfort zone.
We are not going to address area preparation because the process can be complex and is always site-specific. However, as a rule, we recommend disturbing the soil as little as possible, and we do not recommend amending the soil. If you chose the right plant for the right conditions they will thrive. Any disturbance and amendments will only encourage weeds to emerge that never had a chance to do so before.
Installing plugs cannot be easier: dig a hole large enough for the roots to fit snugly inside, then water them in to eliminate air gaps. We recommend using a soil knife, sometimes referred to as hori hori, or a drill-adapted auger if it’s a large installation. If you use an auger, you will need a powerful drill. Depending on the size of the project and the type of soil, the process can be beyond what an average drill will bear. Mulching is recommended after installation to help keep weeds down while the plants establish. Be sure to keep it away from the crown of the plants. For large projects, you may want to mulch the area before planting, rather than tiptoeing through it after the fact. As a side note: if you are installing plugs in the fall, you might want to plant them so that the crown is about ¾” lower than the surrounding soil. The winter’s freeze/thaw cycles can push plugs out if the roots did not have enough time to establish and anchor them in.