Junegrass

Scientific Name: Koeleria macrantha

Koeleria macrantha, commonly called prairie junegrass, is a cool season, clump-forming, tufted, perennial bunch grass that is native throughout most of the contiguous U.S. except for the Southeast and parts of the Northeast. It is also found in Europe and Asia. It prefers well-drained soils in full sun, and thrives in rocky, gritty, and sandy soils. It is drought-tolerant and requires optimal drainage. Avoid wet and heavy or clay soil, as well as shade. Junegrass prefers cool summer areas. With high summer temperatures and humidity, it will go dormant.

In California, it is found from the coast to the mountains but is largely absent from the Central Valley and deserts. Junegrass is indigenous to abandoned fields, prairies, disturbed roadsides and railroads, pastures, exhausted mined land, and barren wastelands. It’s excellent for restoration projects of native prairies, savanna, coastal shrub, chaparral, and open forest habitats and will readily self-seed. It is also deer resistant.

Host plant: Columbian skipper, Nevada skipper, white-lined sphinx

Produced by Hedgerow Farms