Georgia Wildlife Federation

Resources < Wildlife Habitats < Guide to Native Plants of Georgia for Wildlife < Panicum virgatum

Switchgrass is a perennial warm-season grass that was one of the primary components of Midwestern American tallgrass prairie ecosystems. Tallgrass prairies have existed in North America for millions of years, and came into intimate contact with a wide variety of animals. North America, well before Native Americans crossed into it, was home to a rich food chain of herbivorous animals. They included the Glyptodont, the American Horse, the American Camel, North American Llamas, Mammoths, and Mastodons. They supported predatory populations of American native lions, saber-toothed tigers, and large dire wolves. With the retreat of glaciers and the onset of man, prairie landscapes began to change, and the megafauna of this continent steadily became extinct. Switchgrass and Bison are modern relics of the wonderful capacity of the prairie ecosystem to support life of all types.

Switchgrass has a wide variety of natural and anthropologic functions. It feed caterpillars, birds, and herbivorous mammals while providing nesting material and cover to insects, birds, and small field mammals. For humans, it helps minimize erosion, produces forage, provides game with cover and habitat, and has ornamental use. Most recently, it has been used as a biomass crop for ethanol, fiber, electricity, and heat production.

Its fibrous roots can reach up to ten feet deep and make it remarkably drought-tolerant. It has excellent aesthetic value through spring and summer while in flower and fruit, and also in fall, where it attains a deep golden color. Good companion plants include Woolgrass, Indiangrass, Broomsedge, Salt Cordgrass, Pink Muhly, Spikerush, Whitetop Sedge, Wiregrass, Sugarcane Plumegrass, Bent-awn Plumegrass, Seashore Mallow, Redroot, Cattail, Gayfeather, Wild Ageratum, and New York Aster.

Family: Poaceae (Grass)

Description: A tall, spreading perennial grass. Leaf blades are sturdy, flat, glossy, 30” long and ½” wide. Stems are round in cross section, often with reddish tinting. Flowers are inconspicuous, with reddish-purple anthers, and borne in open 10” panicles. Seeds are tiny (1/8”) and teardrop-shaped. Rhizomes are long, horizontal, and often interlace to form a thick, dense sod. Roots below ground are fibrous and exceed above-ground parts in biomass.

Size: 3-6 feet tall and 3 feet wide per clump, but also aggressively colonizing via rhizomes and reseeding

Habit: A tall, spreading warm-season perennial grass

Growth Rate: Fast, can be an aggressive seeder and colonizer

Light: Full sun, also one of few native grasses tolerant of partial shade

Planting and Care: Switchgrass grows on a wide variety of soils, but prefers deep sandy loams most and fares poorly in heavy clay soils. Fertilization tends to favor competitors of Switchgrass and is best avoided. Burning is recommended every 3-5 years to reinvigorate the plants and remove their competitors. Mowing below 6-8” is not recommended because it reduces the plant’s ability to shade out competitors as well as its insulation and cold hardiness in winter. It is hardy through USDA Zones 4-9.

Ornamental Value: Assets of Switchgrass include its large size and color in both spring and summer (when in flower and fruit) as well as fall (for its strong golden fall color).

Landscape Use: Switchgrass is an ideal grass for naturalization. It is extremely drought-tolerant and colonizes rapidly and aggressively. It even out-competes invasive nonnative grasses. It works most successfully en masse in fields or large natural lawns. It is also useful for attracting and retaining wildlife such as herbivores, small field mammals, butterflies, and birds.

Wildlife Benefits: Larval host plant for the Delaware Skipper and Spotted Skipper. The caterpillars of most Skippers and Satyrs are also dependent upon species within the grass family. The seeds of Switchgrass are eaten by songbirds, rails, teal, and geese. The Foliage and rhizomes have been traditional food sources for North American grazing animals from the Pleistocene to the present. They have included extinct mega-fauna like the American Horse and Camel, present-day herbivores such as bison and deer, and most recently cattle, sheep, and goats. The above ground parts are also useful as nesting material and cover for bird life and small field mammals.

Native Habitat: Switchgrass is wide-ranging across North America from Florida north to Quebec, west to Saskatchewan, and south through Montana and Idaho to Arizona, Nevada, and well into Mexico.