On campus, big bluestem is used in the Cather garden in combination with Joe Pye weed and goldenrods. In cultivation it grows in loose clumps approximately two and one half feet in height, although it can be taller in a natural setting. Its light green foliage becomes darker as the season progresses. In late summer the flower spikes emerge and fluffy plumes catch the sunlight and attract attention in the garden. Autumn brings out red, bronze, and russet hues which hold well into the winter.
Little bluestem is used in low maintenance beds on campus.
It can be used effectively as a large-scale ground cover for massing or naturalizing. Silvery flower spiklets emerge on one side of the stem in summer. Bleaching to a straw-white in winter, this grass can be used in perennial plantings, as a massing groundcover or to prevent soil erosion on dry slopes. The clumps of foliage stand upright reaching three feet in the garden with flower spikes held two or more feet above the foliage. Colors in foliage range from medium green to gray-green to almost blue.