They're different cultivars...and there are at least two more blue cultivars as well; 'Blue Heaven' AKA MinnBlueA and 'Aldous.' 'Prairie Blues' and 'Aldous' can be successfully grown from seed, while the other two are less cooperative. 'Blue Heaven' AKA MinnBlueA is the tallest and most erect in habit. All 4 are different shades of blue, ranging from blue/green ('Aldous') to steel blue/burgundy ('Blue Heaven').

Thanks, donn Yes, three to four feet would be way too tall, so little bluestem is out. I've been investigating Carex. There are many dozens of them native to our area, but I'm having a hard time figuring out which are the best varieties for the garden. Many of the ones I've read about being used in garden situations are rated for zone 8 or lower, so I'm reluctant to try them here on the zone 9a/b border. Lots of zone 8 plants struggle here. None of my native plant books have much to say about using carex either. Seems like I remember the book "The American Meadow Garden" recommends a sedge for this area. I'll have to check it out from the library again. Thanks for the tip! Bill

Thank you for the advice, I need to take reseeding into consideration. The ditch is barely a ditch, maybe 1'-2' across and carries very little water unless there is a heavy rain. It's water from a road but at the top of a hill, most of the water goes to the other side of the road. I had not planned on planting the grass between the road and ditch (this would be walking space) so no water would be passing from road surface through grass into the ditch. I also would not put it actually in the ditch itself. My main goal is to find a wildlife friendly planting which could as well eliminate our cost of professional mowing on the right of way. It's extremely low traffic! We have no native grass areas here, so I am trying to work one in. A meadow effect won't work since it is for a HOA, needs to be a bit more formal and one type of mass plant. I am just happy the HOA will take native/wildlife into consideration when landscaping so don't want to screw it up so they continue to do so. I'll keep looking for alternatives. I do plan on planting a bank on my own property with little bluestem the blues. I have some native now and love the winter appeal. My native stands up just fine.

A 3 gallon plant is a huge plant (or it should be!) and you should be able to get many small starts from it.