Prefers a light dry well-drained moderately fertile humus-rich soil in a sunny sheltered position. Prefers an alkaline soil. Established plants are drought tolerant. A very ornamental plant, it is not generally very long-lived though it normally self-sows freely. The sub-species lewisii (which is seen as a separate species by some botanists or as no more than a synonym of this species by others) is more desirable for its fibre and has been cultivated by the N. American Indians for this purpose.

Seed - cooked. A pleasant nutty taste and very nutritious. The seed has a high oil content and can be eaten on its own or used as a flavoring. It should not be eaten raw because it contains cyanide but this is destroyed in the cooking process.

Seed - sow spring in greenhouse. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer. Basal cuttings in spring. Harvest the shoots when they are about 8 - 10cm long with plenty of underground stem. Pot them up into individual pots and keep them in light shade in a cold frame or greenhouse until they are rooting well. Plant them out in the summer.

Calcareous grassland. Prairies to alpine ridges, usually on dry well-drained soils in Western N. America.