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Droughts are expected to intensify in coming years with changing climate. It is imperative that ecologically and economically important native rangeland grasses, such as blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) of the shortgrass steppe, be investigated for their phenotypic diversity across populations. We selected ten populations where blue grama was a dominant species across a precipitation and elevation gradient in Boulder County, Colorado, plus five sites along a larger north-south gradient. From each population, 17 clones were transplanted to controlled greenhouse conditions and subjected to two different watering regimes. When water limitation was removed, we observed extensive plasticity compared to field phenotype in all populations. However, we observed that more southern populations exhibited higher growth rates compared to northern and Boulder populations. We also considered differences in drought response strategy by comparing pre-dawn and midday leaf water potential, where we found populations to differ across the precipitation gradient in terms of anisohydric (passive) versus isohydric (active) water budgeting strategies. Finally, we observed differences in fitness (flower mass and length) across populations and clones. However, fitness did not vary by greenhouse drought treatment, suggesting potential tradeoff between clonal and sexual reproduction is specific to population or individual clones and not necessarily responsive to water availability. Elucidation of phenotypic diversity along with upcoming research highlighting genetic diversity across different populations of blue grama may inform management and restoration practices in the shortgrass steppe ecoregion, as well as plant breeding programs.