Needle & Thread Grass

Needle & Thread Grass is a beautiful and interesting native, perennial, cool season, drought tolerant bunch grass.  It thrives on sandy or gravelly soils more than on loams.  It is one of the earlier grasses to green up, beginning in early spring and flowering by June.  The seed has 4 – 5″ awns on it at maturity.  These awns can cause severe problems for livestock grazing and caution should be taken to make sure animals are not grazing during the end of the seed head development period.  Otherwise it provides good forage in spring and after the seed has dropped.  Handling Needle & Thread Grass requires good leather gloves because the awns, even if they have been removed, are still called a needle for an obvious reason.  Typically used as a reclamation grass, it needs a dormant fall planting to achieve good germination.  It is most commonly found in the 3,500- to 8,500-foot elevation range.  Needle & Thread Grass typically takes 1 to 3 weeks for germination when conditions are right.

There are no released varieties.