Sideoats Grama
Bouteloua curtipendula
A fast-growing native range grass with distinctive sidelong seed spikes that attract birds.
A very cold- and heat-hardy native for USDA zones 4-11; it goes dormant and tan in winter frost and greens up in warm weather, tolerating extreme low-desert heat and drought.
AMWUA Notes
A tough, very low-water native bunchgrass; its only real maintenance is a single late-winter cutback before spring growth.
Care Guide
Water every 2-3 weeks in summer once established; this warm-season native is very drought tolerant and needs little to no water in cooler months.
Cut the clump back to a few inches in late winter, before spring green-up, to remove old dormant blades and refresh the tuft; this is the one essential annual task.
No fertilizer is needed; native gramas thrive in lean, unamended desert soil.
Trouble-free; note the pollen can be a mild seasonal allergen.
Distinctive oat-like seed spikes hang along one side of the stems in summer and fall, feeding birds, then the warm-season clump goes tan and dormant in winter.
Soil, Feeding & Propagation
Thrives in lean, well-drained rocky, gravelly, or calcareous native soils; very tolerant of poor alkaline ground.
Needs well-drained soil.
None — thrives in lean desert soil without fertilizer.
Seed, or division of established clumps in spring.
1.5-2 ft on center in meadow masses (2 ft mature width)
Clumping bunchgrass with fibrous soil-binding roots; may self-sow into natural stands but is not aggressively invasive.
Placement Tips
- •Space 18-24 in apart in meadow-style masses and native grass gardens.
- •Use in low-water buffer areas and swales where it self-sows into a natural stand.
- •Combine with wildflowers for a prairie look that feeds seed-eating birds.
- •Give full sun; cut back once a year in late winter before new growth begins.
Features
Best Uses
Ecological Value
Attracts
Wildlife Value
Companion Plants
Quick Stats
Design Styles
Include in Your Project
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Use this care guide to maintain your Sideoats Grama. Questions about your landscape? Reach out anytime.
Data from 2024 AMWUA “Landscape Plants for the Arizona Desert” guide.