BOUTELOUA gracilis. Blue grama grass. Widespread in the U.S. and southern Canada. Blue grama is a dense, neat bunchgrass, growing a little over 1’ high, with many nearly erect, slender stems. The leaves are quite narrow, up to 6" long, and bright green in color. Rising well above them in summer are branched flower clusters with radiating 2" spikes which resemble (to my eye) little caterpillars. Blue grama makes an attractive cover for open banks and naturalistic meadows and can even be overplanted and mowed into something like a lawn (though perhaps not one on which you would care to take a nap). Give it sun, reasonably well drained soil, and moderate–not heavy–watering. Hardy to below 0^oF.