Elymus virginicus (Virginia Wild Rye)
Elymus virginicus (Virginia Wild Rye)
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Pure Live Seed
Pure Live Seed
Seed is provided in Pure Live Seed (PLS) unless otherwise stated.
Pure Live Seed (PLS) expresses the viable seed content of a seed lot using its purity and germination or viability test results. It helps you compare seed lots and calculate how much bulk seed is needed to meet a specified PLS planting rate.
PLS weight and bag weight
PLS weight is not the same as the total weight of seed in a bag. For example, a lot with 80% purity and 75% viability contains 60% PLS: 80 × 75 ÷ 100 = 60. Supplying 10 lb PLS from that lot requires about 16.67 lb of bulk seed.
Use the current seed test and the stated basis of the mix specification. Germination calculations may include applicable hard or dormant seed. Seed-count estimates also require the number of seeds per pound; PLS alone does not provide a seed count.
What to check when buying a mix
Check whether each rate is stated in PLS pounds, bulk pounds, or a combination. A mix with both bases should not be described as having an all-PLS total.
PLS does not remove weed seeds or guarantee establishment. Review the seed label and analysis for weed content, and match site preparation, planting conditions and follow-up management to your project.
Sources: USDA NRCS, Understanding Pure Live Seed and The Importance of Seed Quality for Natural Resource Conservation.
Weight Conversions lbs. to oz.
Weight Conversions lbs. to oz.
0.01 pounds = 0.16 ounces
- 0.1 pounds = 1.6 ounces
- 0.25 pounds = 4 ounces
- 0.5 pounds = 8 ounces
- 0.75 pounds = 12 ounces
- 1.00 pounds = 16 ounces
Virginia wild rye grows more robustly in brighter locations when moisture is adequate. It also accommodates light shade, making it useful across a moist planting's changing light levels.
Virginia Wild Rye Seed for Native Cover Crops
Elymus virginicus is a native, cool-season perennial grass that can establish alongside a prairie or woodland seed mix. This is single-species Virginia wild rye seed, not a multi-species seed mix. Seed and live plug-flat options are sold separately on this page.
Coverage basis: 5 lb per acre when used as a companion to a native seed mix. This is the upper end of a published 1–5 lb/acre companion-crop range, not a universal rate or a stand-alone lawn recommendation. Use less where Virginia wild rye is already included in your mix, and follow any project-specific specifications.
| Planting area | Seed needed | How to order by weight |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft | Approximately 1.84 oz | 4 oz minimum package; use only the needed portion |
| 1/4 acre (10,890 sq ft) | 1.25 lb | 1 × 1 lb + 1 × 4 oz |
| 1/2 acre (21,780 sq ft) | 2.5 lb | 2 × 1 lb + 1 × 8 oz |
| 3/4 acre (32,670 sq ft) | 3.75 lb | 3 × 1 lb + 1 × 12 oz |
| 1 acre (43,560 sq ft) | 5 lb | 5 × 1 lb |
Smallest seed package: 4 oz. At the planning rate above, it covers approximately 2,178 sq ft. For a 1,000 sq ft planting, measure out approximately 1.84 oz; do not spread the full 4 oz package over that area merely because it is the smallest package.
Planting Virginia Wild Rye Alone: Monoculture Cover Crop
Use 10 lb per acre as a starting point for a dense single-species stand under good establishment conditions. This is different from the lighter companion-crop rate above. A dense stand may be too competitive where you intend to introduce woodland wildflowers soon afterward; use a lower rate or obtain site-specific guidance.
| Area | Seed needed |
|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft | Approximately 3.67 oz; select the 4 oz minimum package |
| 1/4 acre | 2.5 lb |
| 1/2 acre | 5 lb |
| 3/4 acre | 7.5 lb |
| 1 acre | 10 lb |
Order by total seed weight for a monoculture. Select the available seed-weight options and adjust cart quantities to reach the total needed. For example, 7.5 lb can be ordered as quantity 7 of the 1 lb option plus quantity 1 of the 8 oz option. Coverage areas are guidance only, not separate product variants. Virginia wild rye is perennial, so do not assume that this cover crop will winter-kill like an annual.
Seed-weight basis: Follow the seed lot label and project requirements. Where seed is supplied on a pure live seed (PLS) basis, these amounts refer to PLS; physical bulk weight must be adjusted for the lot’s tested purity and germination. Package weight alone does not establish seed viability. Contact us if you need help interpreting the seed label.
For a planting-specific rate or help coordinating a cover crop with your permanent native mix, contact Natural Communities for restoration consulting.
For Elymus virginicus, choose full sun to light shade and moist soil. Recorded habitats include deciduous woods, especially floodplains; Bluffs; Moist and sandy savannas; Rocky glades; Moist prairies; Marsh margins; Riverside lowlands. Reported height: flowering stems about 2½–4 ft; nonflowering shoots up to 1 ft.
Growth habit: short-lived perennial that reseeds itself over time. Root structure: fibrous roots. Choose neighboring plants with compatible light and moisture needs, and allow space for their mature growth.
Plant specifications & ecological relationships
Key growing facts
| Sunlight | Full sun to light shade |
|---|---|
| Soil moisture | Moist |
| Height | Flowering stems about 2½–4 ft; nonflowering shoots up to 1 ft |
| Bloom season | Summer |
Native landscape companions
For partial sun / light shade and moist soil, consider these native plants alongside Elymus virginicus:
| Companion plant | Height |
|---|---|
| Wild Bergamot / Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa) | 2½–4 ft |
| Nodding Bulrush or Rufous Bulrush (Scirpus pendulus) | 2–3½ ft |
| Northern Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum) | 1–3 ft |
| New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) | Up to 4 ft |
These landscape suggestions combine overlapping growing needs with documented plant associations. Match soil, seasonal wetness and mature spread to your site. Remnant records are described separately under Plant communities & associates.
Show / hide ▾Growing & planting details
| Growth habit | Short-lived perennial that reseeds itself over time |
|---|---|
| Root form | Fibrous roots |
| Soil pH | 5.0–7.0 |
| Drought tolerance | Medium |
| Deer browsing | Deer resistance reported in cultivation guidance; browsing remains possible. |
| Salt tolerance | None |
Plant identification & seed reference
| Botanical name | Elymus virginicus |
|---|---|
| Other common names | virginia wild rye; Eastern Wild Rye; Eastern Wild-rye; Terrell Grass; Virginia Wildrye |
| Seed germination | USDA lists cold stratification as not required; seed-lot response may vary. |
| Plant family | Poaceae |
| Seeds per pound — reference estimate | 100000 |
Plant characteristics
Virginia Wild Rye is an adaptable cool season clumping grass that reaches about four feet high. Its bristly seed heads resemble rye and are held more upright than others in its genus. It prefers moist to mesic soils. Various insects and moths feed on this wild rye while birds will eat the seeds.
Show / hide ▾Plant communities & associates
Illinois woodland and stream communities
Middle Fork Woods, Vermilion County (1999–2002 survey). Recorded in: mesic ravine forest; perennial stream corridor.
Mesic ravine forest — selected native associates: Geranium maculatum, Phlox divaricata, Asarum canadense.
Perennial stream corridor — selected native associates: Phlox divaricata, Sorghastrum nutans, Acer saccharinum.
These plants share a recorded habitat; they were not necessarily found in the same small plot.
Illinois plant communities
Mesic black-soil prairie — central Illinois
Recorded at Loda Cemetery Prairie (Iroquois County), Prospect Cemetery Prairie (Ford County), Weston Cemetery Prairie (McLean County). INHS identifies these sites as remnants of this community.
Selected native plants from the same remnant records:
- Sorghastrum nutans
- Andropogon gerardii
- Sporobolus heterolepis
- Eryngium yuccifolium
- Silphium laciniatum
- Parthenium integrifolium
These inventories include edges and disturbed patches. Shared remnant records do not establish that every plant grows together in one microsite.
Spring Bay Fen Nature Preserve — wet-mesic floodplain forest
Surveyed in 2007, 2008 and 2011. Wet-mesic floodplain forest recorded separately from the adjoining fen. These dated records do not establish presence today.
Other native plants recorded in this surveyed community: Acer nigrum, Acer saccharinum, Agastache nepetoides, Amorpha fruticosa, Anemone canadensis, Arisaema dracontium, Arisaema triphyllum, Blephilia hirsuta, Carex blanda, Carex emoryi.
Murphy, Phillippe & Ebinger 2021, Appendix 1. Selected associates from the same community; records do not show immediate neighbors or prescribe planting ratios.
Show / hide ▾Native range & C-value
State nativity describes a broad range. Use the Chicago-region assessment for local context; a state listing does not establish county nativity.
| Wetland indicator — NWPL 2022 Midwest | FACW |
|---|---|
| C-value — Chicago region, Flora 2017 | 3 |
| Chicago-region native — Flora 2017 | Yes |
| Native range — U.S. states | Alabama; Arizona; Arkansas; Colorado; Connecticut; Delaware; Florida; Georgia; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Kansas; Kentucky; Louisiana; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; Mississippi; Missouri; Nebraska; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New Mexico; New York; North Carolina; North Dakota; Ohio; Oklahoma; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; South Carolina; South Dakota; Tennessee; Texas; Vermont; Virginia; West Virginia; Wisconsin; Wyoming |
| County nativity | Not yet verified; occurrence records do not establish nativity. |
Show / hide ▾Pollinators & wildlife
Caterpillars & other plant-feeding insects
This plant has published caterpillar host records for the butterflies and moths listed below. These are larval feeding relationships, separate from adult nectar visits. The records span a North American literature compilation and do not establish that every insect occurs locally or uses only this plant.
Moths
- Elachista leucofrons
- Leucania phragmitidicola — Needle Wainscot, Phragmites Wainscot
Show / hide ▾Frequently asked questions
What are the ideal growing conditions for Virginia Wild Rye?
Light: Full sun to light shade. Soil moisture: Moist.
How do I germinate and establish Virginia Wild Rye from seed?
USDA lists cold stratification as not required; seed-lot response may vary.
Is Virginia Wild Rye deer and herbivore resistant?
Deer resistance reported in cultivation guidance; browsing remains possible. Even plants described as resistant may be browsed. Use physical protection where deer damage is a concern.
When should I expect Virginia Wild Rye to bloom?
Typical flowering period: Summer. Timing varies with location and weather.
Show / hide ▾Sources & ecological notes
Landscape companion selection: Natural Communities compared the growing requirements shown on these species pages with selected source records: Mesic black-soil prairie — Loda Cemetery Prairie — Central Illinois; Mesic ravine forest — East-central Illinois. The shortlist is a planting-design inference. A shared record does not establish adjacency, identical soil requirements, local seed origin, or a tested planting combination. Regional synthesis records retain their documented focal-to-associate scope.
Cover-crop rate reference: Prairie Moon Nursery — Virginia Wild Rye recommends 1–5 lb/acre when planted with a native seed mix. Its species Q&A suggests 10 lb/acre for a solid stand under favorable conditions and cautions that this density may be excessive before a later woodland-forb seeding. The coverage table uses 5 lb/acre and 43,560 sq ft per acre; figures for small areas are rounded. This planning basis is not a guarantee of establishment or a seed-lot test.
Illinois woodland records: Larimore, Phillippe & Ebinger (2008), Middle Fork Woods flora, Appendix I. © 2008 University of Illinois Board of Trustees, CC BY 4.0. Habitat records transcribed, selected and linked to catalog names by Natural Communities. Survey: 1999–2002.
Illinois communities & local records: INHS: Loda, Prospect and Weston prairie records.
Native range & ecological ratings: Flora of the Chicago Region (2017), via Universal FQA; USACE Chicago FQA (2017); Kew WCVP / Plants of the World Online; USACE National Wetland Plant List.
Growing conditions & other references: Illinois Wildflowers, John Hilty; USDA NRCS PLANTS; Patrick Goggin: Wisconsin native plant guide, p. 75; NC State Extension Plant Toolbox.
Wildlife records: Shropshire & Tallamy: caterpillar hosts (2025).
Native range does not identify the origin of the seed or plants offered. Community and wildlife records apply to the locations and conditions described.
Research notes & credits
USACE/ERDC fqadata — Chicago Region FQA 2017. Herman, B., Sliwinski, R. & Whitaker, S. (2017), Chicago Region FQA Calculator; distributed by USACE/ERDC in fqadata under CC0. Values may differ from Flora of the Chicago Region (2017). CC0 dedication. Retained for comparison; the displayed C-value follows Flora database 80.
Range data: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; 4 June 2026 release, accessed 7 September 2026. © The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. CC BY 3.0; selected and reformatted. Kew cannot warrant the quality or accuracy of these data. This use has no Kew endorsement.
Caterpillar host records: Shropshire, K.J. & Tallamy, D.W. (2025), Lepidoptera of North America, Supplement 1. Contains information from this database made available under the Open Database License (ODbL 1.0). Natural Communities selected species-level records and screened source qualifications. The complete selection and transformation instructions for this page are available below under the same license.
Flora rating attribution: Kenneth Johnson (2018), Flora of the Chicago Region UFQA Database, following Gerould Wilhelm and Laura Rericha (2017), Flora of the Chicago Region: A Floristic and Ecological Synthesis. Individual rating facts are presented with original commentary; the calculator’s software license is not treated as a license for the underlying Flora publication.
Caterpillar research records
Plant: Elymus virginicus
Record scope: Host literature synthesis; no county nativity or local insect occurrence inferred.
Shropshire & Tallamy (2025) · Original research dataset · Reuse license: ODbL-1.0
| Plant names in the source | Source insect record IDs |
|---|---|
| Elymus virginicus | 204506, 207718 |
How these records were selected
To reproduce this selection, use the “UDELep May 2025” worksheet in the original research dataset.
- Match the insect record IDs above to column A (UDLepID). Within each table row, pair every listed insect ID with every listed source plant name.
- Use the first two words in column H for the insect’s scientific name, column E for its common name, and column AB for its source category.
- Treat the selected pairs as reported caterpillar host records. Keep all other source fields unchanged and outside this selected table. Include no other rows or host pairs.
- Group butterflies and skippers together, and the other categories as moths. Retain the source’s exotic-category labels and sort display names by scientific insect name.
Growing guidance: Illinois Extension — Keeping deer out of the yard and garden. Selected facts in original wording. General deer advice is not a species resistance rating.
Additional community records: Murphy, Phillippe & Ebinger (2021), Spring Bay Fen flora and vegetation. Selected facts and taxonomic links; source spellings and historical survey dates retained.
Plant Shipping & Care
Plant Shipping & Care
We want to ensure that our customers get what they want, a native backyard oasis. To do that, we need to follow a few simple guidelines and give you some information and pointers to make sure you get your plants delivered in a healthy state.
As a reminder, you will receive an email to confirm your pickup or shipping window just before the plants are ready. See Order Fulfillment below for seasonal fulfillment windows.
Choices to Receive Your Plants & Accessories
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- Pickup locations and dates are confirmed by email. Please wait for confirmation before traveling to a pickup site. Our offices are not retail stores or nursery pickup locations.
Order Fulfilment - When Your Plants or Other Items Will Be Ready
We take orders all year long and seed is shipped all year, but we only provide the plants to you in certain fulfillment windows to ensure healthy plants.
Wholesale Orders
- Shipped or are Ready For Pick Up As Requested.
Retail & Website Orders
- Seed Typically Ships Out Within One Week Of Order All Year Long
- Typically, single species flats ship when ready, sometimes as soon as early to mid-April (depends on weather) through early-October.
- Mixed species kits are batched and shipped as indicated on the product page.
- If a plant order is placed while outside of the plant fulfillment window your plants will be reserved through your payment, however, the order will not be fulfilled and shipped until the following spring. We don't want to provide you plants when they won't be happy during the cold winter months.
- Early in the spring and later in the fall certain species may be dormant or partially dormant with brown leaves, however they will return to grow healthy next growing season.
- Your order may arrive in several different shipments.
- If certain plants within an order will not be available until a later date, we may choose to hold the full order until all are ready. In certain circumstances, we may choose to send them in two separate shipments
- Fulfillment is always dependent upon plant availability. We try our best but sometimes plants do not overwinter well and perish. If a plant is on back order you will receive an email indicating the estimated shipping date. If we can not provide the plant we will first notify you and give you an option of substitution or a refund of that individual species.
- Plants are typically only packaged and shipped on Mondays to ensure they do not sit in the harsh delivery facility for extended periods of time over the weekend. You will receive a confirmation email once your delivery has been shipped and to estimate your delivery date.
- Apparel & accessories are ready typically within one to two weeks. See product page for holiday shipping.
Where We Ship
What to Expect When Receiving Your Delivery
- Your plants will be packaged with the utmost care
- We will need to cut back certain plants prior to shipping. This seems counter-intuitive, however, the fewer leaves the less water the plants can lose during shipping, resulting in healthier plants for you. This also enables the plants to fit within the protective packaging and shipped safely.
Shipments
- Larger plant shipments will look similar to the picture below with a tray of your plants and a cardboard box to protect them during shipping.
What to Do With Your Plants After Receiving Your Delivery
- Unpack your order IMMEDIATELY
- Inspect for damage and report any issues immediately to Natives@NaturalCommunities.net
- Water your plants
- Install your plants as quickly as possible and water the entire garden area thoroughly
- If you cannot install your plants immediately
- Some plants may not be in a container, put them into some kind of a container such as a paper cup with loose soil until installation
- Make sure each plant is receiving the appropriate amount of light.
- Continue to water daily each morning and possibly again in the afternoon
- No additional fertilizer is needed
Seed Shipping & Care
Seed Shipping & Care
Seed ships all year and typically ships within a week of an order being placed.
We have attempted to put together some basic information regarding native seed installation, establishment, and maintenance. We hope you find it helpful. If you need further assistance on native seed establishment, please schedule a free consolation call here.
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