Sisyrinchium bellum (Blue Eyed)

Western Blue-Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium bellum) is a tufted little iris-family relative from western North America with starry violet-blue flowers in spring. The common name is a botanical misnomer: despite the grass-like leaves, this is in the iris family (Iridaceae), not the true grasses. Look closely at the flowers and you can see the iris family heritage in the six neat tepals and central yellow throat.

Plants form small grass-like clumps six to eighteen inches tall with narrow upright leaves and short branched stems holding small flat starry flowers. Bloom is spring to early summer, March through June across its range, with earliest flowers on the California coast and the latest on the Willamette Valley prairies. Native to California and Oregon, common in valley grasslands and coastal bluffs.

Bumblebees and small native solitary bees work the open chalice-shaped flowers for pollen. The flowers close on cloudy days and at night.

Site Western Blue-Eyed Grass in full sun in average to lean soil. It thrives on Mediterranean rhythms: green and growing in spring, flowering, then easing into summer dormancy in dry years. Self-sows gently in good conditions. Drought tolerant once established. USDA Zone 5 to 10.

Coastal-suitable; deer resistant (iris-family foliage). A wonderful low edger for the front of a prairie or pollinator bed, or a soft little understory plant for a meadow.

Pairs naturally with Eschscholzia californica, Iris douglasiana, Achillea millefolium, Camassia quamash, and the native fescues for a Pacific grassland or pollinator-meadow planting.