Koeleria macrantha is a cool-season, prairie grass that forms tight bunches of green and sometimes gray-green foliage. The blooms are 2-inch– to 6-inch–long, tight panicles that appear in spring and are in full flower by June, earning the common name of prairie Junegrass. The inflorescences emerge light green, turn silvery green as the flowers mature, and age to a wheat color. Prairie Junegrass is native to most of the western and central U.S. and to temperate climates in Eurasia. It's found in dry to mesic conditions, usually on prairies or in grassy woods. This grass is shorter in stature than most prairie grasses, topping out at 2', making it a welcome addition to a mixed planting and in spaces where larger grasses are too much.
Prairie Junegrass does best in full sun and dry, sandy soils; it will tolerate drought once established. It can handle more moisture if the soil is well drained but does not do well in wet or heavy soils. In more fertile soils—as opposed to sand—reducing competition from taller plants may be necessary to keep it thriving. As a cool-season grass, Koeleria macrantha does most of its growing in spring and early summer when soil and air temperatures are lower; best planted in early spring. Growth slows as temperatures climb in summer, often going fully dormant in areas with hot and humid summers. It's short-lived in regions with hot, humid summers. Don't even try this one in the Southeastern U.S. In climates with cooler summers, it can look quite nice all summer long.
Space plants 8"-12" on center.
Koeleria macrantha has dense, fibrous roots and is clump forming. It does not spread vegetatively but will spread via seed. It occurs naturally in scattered tufts rather than in large colonies.
Mix in the pollinator friendly blooms of Echinacea pallida (pale purple coneflower), Eryngium yuccifolium (button eryngo), Liatris aspera (prairie blazing star), and Symphyotrichum oblongifolium (smooth blue aster). Nestle in a few sedges, like Carex bicknellii (Bicknell's sedge) and Carex brevior (shortbeak sedge). Round out this plant community with other prairies grasses like Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem), Sporobolus heterolepis (prairie dropseed), and Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama).
Prairie Junegrass provides food for grasshoppers and leafhoppers and is browsed by large herbivores. However, it's rarely a major part of their diet. It's been used by several indigenous communities for a range of applications, including making seeds into meal for bread and porridge, mixing the straw into adobe to lend it strength and stickiness, and using bunches tied together as brooms. It has also been used as feed for cattle and horses.
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Recorded County Distribution: USDA data.
AL, AR, DE, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, ND, NE, NY, OH, OK, PA, SD, VT, WI, AZ, CA, CO, ID, LA, MT, NM, NV, OR, TX, UT, WA, WY |
Endangered | KY, OH |
Extirpated | PA |
MAP OF WETLAND DELINEATION REGIONS
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 |
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 | Koeleria | Junegrass |
Species | Koeleria macrantha | prairie Junegrass |
mountain Junegrass, crested hairgrass, Junegrass
Koeleria albescens
Koeleria cristata
Koeleria cristata var. longifolia
Koeleria cristata var. pinetorum
Koeleria gracilis
Koeleria nitida
Koeleria pyramidata
Koeleria yukonensis
Sizes 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 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.