plant named ‘Switcheroo’

Latin botanical classification:hybrid (L.).

Variety denomination: ‘Switcheroo’.

The first offer for sale of‘Switcheroo’ was a private offer to Prides Corner Farm by Walters Gardens, Inc. on Nov. 15, 2024. Walters Gardens, Inc. obtained the plant and all information relating thereto from the inventor. No plants of‘Switcheroo’ have been sold in this country or anywhere in the world, nor has any disclosure of the new plant been made more than one year prior to the filing date of this application, and such sale or disclosure within one year was either derived directly or indirectly from the inventor.

‘Switcheroo’, hereinafter also referred to just by the cultivar name ‘Switcheroo’ and the “new plant” is a new and distinct cultivar of Hybrid Switch Grass.

The new plant originated as a cross by the inventor of the proprietary unnamed hybrid referenced only by the breeder code 17-1 (not patented) as the female or seed parent and the proprietary unnamed hybrid referenced only by the breeder code 17-6 (not patented) as the male or pollen parent at a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Michigan in the summer of 2017. The seed was collected in the autumn of 2017 and sown the following spring. The individual seedling was initially selected from among many for further observation in the summer and fall of 2019 at which time it was assigned the breeder code 18-3-11 before assigning the new plant a cultivar name.

The new plant has been successfully asexually propagated by division since late fall of 2020 at the same wholesale perennial plant nursery in Zeeland, MI, and found to produce stable and identical plants that maintain the unique characteristics of the original plant. The plant is stable and reproduces true-to-type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.

The female parent has more upright foliage with streaked variegation, and the inflorescence narrower and more dense, and the habit is taller. The male parent is slightly taller, with more arching and solid blue-green foliage, and more open panicles.

The nearest comparison varieties known to the inventor are: ‘Wood's Variegated’ (not patented) and ‘Dewey Blue’ (not patented).

‘Wood's Variegated’ is significantly shorter in habit with a unstable green and white variegation of the foliage. ‘Dewey Blue’ has a taller habit, the foliage is more arching and solid bluish-green, and the panicle broader.

The following traits of‘Switcheroo’, in combination, have been repeatedly observed in multiple generations of asexually propagated plants and distinguish the new plant from all other Hybrid Switch Grass plants known to the inventor:

The following descriptions and color references are based on the 2015 edition of The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart except where common dictionary terms are used. The new plant, ‘Switcheroo’, has not been observed in all possible environments. The phenotype may vary slightly with different environmental conditions, such as temperature, light, fertility, moisture, and maturity levels, but without any change in the genotype. The following observations and descriptions are of a five-year-old plant in a loamy-sand trial garden of a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Michigan, USA, grown in full sun with supplemental water and fertilizer as needed.