Grass love

Another obsesssion this spring is Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium augustifolium). The only reason I know the name is because I saw it for sale at the Native Plant Society sale. This little cutie just showed up next to this tree a few years ago, and began my love of this grass. Now I find myself looking for it everywhere. I have found it in my lawn, and moved it to a protected spot. I read somewhere to check before harvesting, that it may be a protected native plant, but I'm sure it's okay to move it in my own yard. Anyway, what a pretty thing to find as I walk up the hill from the creek. Ain't life good? Sheila

The native ones seem so much smaller than the cultivated ones but they are charming. We have several in our front yard with the smallest blue flowers and then 3 I bought years ago from Park Seed that are still getting by in an old concrete trough. The newer ones being offered look larger but pictures can be deceiving.

While they look like grass, they really aren't grass but are related to irises.

Thanks so much for the info. Yes, I noticed that the DG photos seem to show much larger flowers. They aren't the S. augustifolium, but S. bermudianum or S. bellum. I really like to know the Latin names of things, because they give more info, but doesn't Blue-eyed grass have a nicer sound? Did Park Seed sell you natives or the cultivars? I'd really like to find a native plant seed company. Sheila

Latin names are great except for spelling and pronunciation. Blue-eyed grass seems fitting for this plant. It does look like grass until it blooms. I think there is a yellow eyed grass too. Candy lilies (Pardancanda x norrisii ) are something similar but much large foliage and blooms.

http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=1540&PrevMainPage=textsearchresults&scChannel=Text%20Search&SearchText=GROW_ZONE10&OfferCode=T1H&siteId=oj7zF3e65kM-6rpYiBu.8gNPOhzWfEHJDA



When I bought this from Park many years ago, it seemed like blue eyed grass is what I saw (Sisyrinchium was small print back then). I will see if I can find any pictures of it blooming since I went digital.

I found one picture from an old Kodak but I need to dress it up some and my grandson is on the computer with the image editing software. I will post it later.

Here is that old picture with 3 blue eyed grass, a dawn redwood (dead now), a Japanese maple (dead as well), 2 conifers, and probably a goldenrod when this picture was taken. And a sempervivum as well.

Wow, that's just glorious. The whole vignette is lovely. To absent friends, eh? Sheila

I forgot to set this close to a sprinkler last summer when we went to Thailand for two weeks. This showed which ones were survivors and which ones weren't. Hopefully I will replace most of these later this year but this time they go into the ground (well maybe not the dawn redwood since I'd like to keep it small).