'Smoking Gun' is a cultivar of switchgrass, the warm-season bunchgrass native to tallgrass prairies and open ground across most of the contiguous United States. It forms a tight, upright clump of blue-green blades that hold their shape in wind and rain, then lifts airy panicles above the foliage in late summer. The foliage warms to gold in fall and fades to straw-tan, and the standing clump carries structure and seed through winter, which is the four seasons of interest its tag promises.
It wants full sun and is tolerant of heat, drought, clay, and brief flooding once established. The seed heads feed finches, sparrows, and juncos, and the dense base gives ground-level cover for birds and overwintering insects. Leave the clump standing through winter and cut it to 4 to 6 inches in late winter before new growth breaks from the base. Divide every several years if the center opens up.
Ecoregions:Northern ForestsEastern Temperate ForestsGreat Plains
Rust
Orange to brown raised pustules on the undersides of leaves, with yellow spotting on the upper surface. Heavy infections cause leaves to yellow and drop.
Remove and destroy infected leaves. Avoid overhead watering and improve air circulation. Apply a sulfur or copper-based fungicide if it spreads. Clear plant debris in fall.
Crown Rot
Lower leaves yellow and wilt; the base of the rosette turns brown and soft, sometimes with white fungal threads at the soil line. Plants collapse in wet conditions.
Remove and destroy affected plants. Improve drainage and avoid overhead watering. Do not mulch directly against the crown. Space plants for airflow and avoid replanting in the same wet spot.