grass named ‘Smoking Gun’

Latin botanical classification:hybrid.

Variety denomination: ‘Smoking Gun’.

The claimed plant was first offer for sale to Prides Corner Farm by Walters Gardens, Inc. on Dec. 17, 2024. Walters Gardens, Inc. obtained‘Smoking Gun’ and all information relating thereto, from the inventor. No plants of‘Smoking Gun’ 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 any sale or disclosure within one year was either derived directly or indirectly from the inventor.

‘Smoking Gun’, hereinafter also referred by just the cultivar name ‘Smoking Gun’ and the “new plant”, is a new and distinct cultivar of switch grass. The new plant originated from a cross between the proprietary, unnamed hybrid known only by the breeder code 17-6-x (not patented) with the proprietary, unnamed hybrid known only by the breeder code 17-2 (not patented) at a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Michigan in the summer of 2018. The seed was collected in the autumn of 2018 and sown the following spring. The individual seedling was initially selected from among many for further observation in the summer and fall of 2020 at which time it was assigned the breeder code 18-2-5 prior to giving the new plant a cultivar name.

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

‘Smoking Gun’ differs from its female parent, 17-6-x, in that the new plant is shorter and has more blue-green foliage that does not change over the growing season. The male parent, 17-2, is similar in leaf color but is significantly taller in habit with more arching foliage.

The nearest comparison varieties known to the inventor are: ‘Blue Fountain’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 28,192, ‘Apache Rose’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 29,142, ‘Dallas Blues’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,202, ‘Gun Smoke’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 32,373, and ‘Niagara Falls’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 34,509.

The new plant is similar in leaf color and form but is significantly shorter than ‘Blue Fountain’ and a more cascading foliage habit and greyed reddish-purple seed heads before maturing to tan. ‘Apache Rose’ has more intense red in the seed heads, the leaves and habit are slightly shorter and develop tips of purple in the fall, and the habit is not as dense. ‘Dallas Blues’ has more arching foliage and a larger and broader habit. ‘Gunsmoke’ has more arching foliage, a broader habit, and the growth is slower. The new plant is taller in height than ‘RR1’ and slightly shorter in height than ‘Shenandoah’ but both ‘RR1’ and ‘Shenandoah’ develop reddish-purple or purplish-red leaf color in July and their habit is different. Table 1 below includes comparisons of othercultivars known to the inventor:

The following traits of‘Smoking Gun’, in combination, have been repeatedly observed in multiple generations of asexually propagated plants and distinguish the new plant from all other 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, ‘Smoking Gun’, 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 six-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.