{"product_id":"andropogon-gerardii-blackhawks","title":"Andropogon gerardii 'Blackhawks' Big Bluestem","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eBig bluestem is the grass that built the tall grass prairie, and for most of its garden history it has been sold on toughness rather than looks. 'Blackhawks' changes that. It comes up in spring as a clean, upright clump of dark green blades, and as summer turns the corner the color starts at the leaf tips and works downward — first a flush of burgundy, then plum, and by September a deep purple so saturated it reads as black from across the yard. The stems, the leaves, and the flowers all go dark together. When the Chicago Botanic Garden grew it alongside other big bluestems in its twelve-year ornamental grass trial, it was the darkest selection in the planting and one of only twenty-two grasses, out of 75 rated, to earn a five-star score. \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eThe Perennial Plant Association named it the 2026 Perennial Plant of the Year®, making it one of the few ornamental grasses to receive the award.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eThe flowers are part of the show. In August the stems carry the three-fingered seed heads that give the species its old name, turkeyfoot — each one splayed like a bird's track and dusted with small golden anthers against the dark burgundy. They hold on the plant well into winter, catching low light long after the foliage has finished. And the plant stands up. At roughly five feet tall and two feet wide, 'Blackhawks' is noticeably shorter and narrower than wild big bluestem, which can run to seven or eight feet and lean hard by fall. This is the size that fits a home border rather than a forty-acre restoration, and the stiff, vertical stems keep their shape through the late-season storms that lay flatter grasses down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eWhy the color matters in a garden: dark foliage is rare among hardy perennials, and near-black foliage that survives a Zone 5 winter is rarer still. For years the only answer to \"I want that dark purple grass\" was purple fountain grass, which is an annual in the Ohio Valley. 'Blackhawks' is the perennial answer, and it is native to boot. Set it behind the golds and oranges of fall — black-eyed Susans, goldenrods, asters, tall sedum — and it makes everything in front of it look brighter. Give it two seasons in the ground and it will be the reason people slow down on the road in October.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e 'Blackhawks' forms an upright, narrow, vase-to-columnar clump about 5' tall and 2' wide in flower, with the foliage mass itself sitting lower through early summer. Reported heights run from 4' to just over 5' depending on soil and climate; the Chicago Botanic Garden trial measured 62\". Unlike the straight species, which can creep by short rhizomes and seed around freely, 'Blackhawks' behaves as a dense, well-mannered clump. It is a warm-season grass — it stays low and green through spring and early summer, puts on most of its height in the heat of July and August, and does not interfere with early-blooming perennials planted in front of it. The texture is medium-fine: linear blades and slender vertical stems that supply motion and line against the broad leaves of coneflowers, rosinweed, and sedums.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eFoliage emerges dark green, sometimes with a purple blush, in late spring. Purple-red tips appear by midsummer. As nights cool in late August and September the color deepens and spreads until stems, leaves, and seed heads are a uniform deep plum-purple, near black in full sun. One honest detail from the trial data: the lower basal leaves tend to go tan and dry by early autumn, while the stems and seed heads hold their dark color into early winter. The show is carried by the upright stems, not by a mound of foliage at the base. In winter the whole clump fades to a warm tan and stands through snow. Color is strongest in full sun and in climates with cool fall nights — Ohio Valley autumns deliver both.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eFlowering begins in August and carries into fall. Inflorescences are the classic three-parted turkeyfoot racemes of big bluestem, burgundy to near-black with small yellow anthers, held at the tops of the stems. They are wind-pollinated and ornamental rather than showy in the way a perennial flower is, and their real value is in the silhouette — they read beautifully backlit and remain on the plant through winter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eFull sun, six hours minimum and preferably more; in shade the color is weaker and the stems stretch and lean. This is one of the most soil-tolerant plants in the catalog: it grows in clay, loam, or sand, from average-dry to moderately moist ground, and is highly drought tolerant once established thanks to a root system that runs many feet deep. What it does not want is rich, heavily fertilized, constantly wet soil — lush growth is soft growth, and it is the most common reason a big bluestem flops. Lean to average soil is not a compromise here; it is the ideal. Deer resistant, heat and humidity tolerant, and long-lived. Care difficulty is low. Hardy in USDA Zones 3–9.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e Use it as a vertical accent in the middle or back of a sunny border, as a dark screen along a property line, massed in a meadow or prairie planting, or as the tall element in a large container. It is a natural partner for the late-summer and fall prairie palette: \u003cem\u003eRudbeckia\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSolidago\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSymphyotrichum\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSilphium\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eLiatris\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eVernonia\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eHylotelephium\u003c\/em\u003e all gain from its dark backdrop, as do the silver-blue of little bluestem and the pale seed heads of switchgrass. Plant in groups of three to five, 24–30\" apart, for a stand that reads as a single dark column; a single plant works as a punctuation mark. Because it is slow to break dormancy, spring bulbs and early perennials can be tucked around the base to carry the space in April and May.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eBig bluestem is native across roughly the eastern two-thirds of North America, from southern Canada into Mexico, and it was the dominant grass of the tallgrass prairie. It is native in both Indiana and Kentucky, where it grew in the prairies of the northwest and in the grassland \"barrens\" of the Pennyroyal. The species is fire-adapted and deep-rooted — main roots commonly reach six to ten feet on deep soils — and the annual cycle of those roots dying back and regrowing is a large part of how the prairie built its famously deep, dark soils. That root system is also why big bluestem is used for erosion control on slopes and in stormwater plantings. 'Blackhawks' is a selected cultivar rather than local-ecotype seed, so it is not a substitute for straight species in a restoration project. In a garden, though, it brings a genuine native grass into places where purple fountain grass or Japanese miscanthus would otherwise go.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eIts most important wildlife role is as a caterpillar host. Big bluestem feeds the larvae of a group of grass-skipper butterflies, including the Delaware skipper, dusted skipper, cobweb skipper, Leonard's skipper, and Ottoe skipper, as well as the common wood nymph. Several of these are grassland specialists that have declined along with their habitat. Grasshoppers, katydids, and leafhoppers feed on it too, which in turn feeds birds. The seeds are taken by sparrows and other seed-eating songbirds in fall and winter, and the standing clumps provide cover and nesting material.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eTwo honest notes. First, as a grass, 'Blackhawks' is wind-pollinated and produces no nectar. It is not a pollinator plant in the flower-garden sense; its contribution is as larval food, cover, and seed, and it is best paired with the prairie forbs that do supply nectar. Second, no one has formally studied whether the dark foliage changes how insects use the plant. The introducing growers expect it to function like the species, which is a reasonable expectation for a pigment change in an otherwise ordinary big bluestem, but it is an expectation rather than a finding. The stems left standing through winter also shelter overwintering insects, which is one more reason to leave the cleanup until late winter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eFull sun and well-drained ground. Do not amend with compost or fertilizer at planting — average or even poor soil gives the sturdiest plant. Set the crown level with the surrounding grade, water in thoroughly, and space 24–30\" apart. As a warm-season grass, it establishes best when planted from late spring through summer, when soil is warm and roots grow actively; late-fall planting is possible but gives the plant less time to root before winter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eWater regularly through the first growing season while the deep roots develop. After that, supplemental water is rarely needed except in extended drought. Do not fertilize. Extra nitrogen produces tall, soft growth that opens up in the center and falls over, and it does nothing for the color.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eWarm-season grasses wake up late. In the Ohio Valley, new green shoots typically do not show until mid-to-late spring, well after cool-season grasses and most perennials are up. A clump of old brown stubble in April is not a dead plant.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eLeave the stems standing through winter for structure, seed, and insect shelter. Cut the clump down to 4–6\" in late winter or very early spring, before new growth starts. The leaf margins are rough, so wear gloves and long sleeves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eClose to trouble-free. Big bluestem can pick up foliar rust in wet, humid summers, and crown rot in poorly drained, soggy soil; both are best prevented by full sun, good air movement, and avoiding overhead irrigation. Aphids and mites turn up occasionally in production but seldom matter in the landscape. Flopping is a cultural problem — too much shade, water, or fertility — rather than a flaw of the plant.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePhoto Credit: Walters Gardens\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"New Blooms Nursery","offers":[{"title":"1 gallon","offer_id":67588066607349,"sku":null,"price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2081\/3263\/files\/Andropogongerardii_Blackhawks_PP279490004highres.jpg?v=1790619542","url":"https:\/\/www.newblooms.com\/products\/andropogon-gerardii-blackhawks","provider":"New Blooms Nursery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}