Giant wildrye (Elymus condensatus) is a grass that grows in bunches or clumps, has a distinctive silver blue hue, and does not die back in any season. It grows in California and northern Mexico in coastal sage scrub, chaparral and woodlands, rarely in wetlands.
This grass makes a nice drought-tolerant lawn substitute. It spreads by rhizomes (underground roots) but not rapidly; it can be easily contained in the area you want it to fill.
It often hybridizes with Leymus triticoides, producing the common hybrid grass Leymus x multiflorus. The cultivar ‘Canyon Prince’ from the Channel Islands is often used in landscapes or gardens because it is somewhat smaller and more compact.
Giant wildrye supports butterflies and moths.