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Festuca glauca
Also called Gray Fescue
Blue fescue is a small, clump-forming ornamental grass prized for its silvery blue-gray, needle-like foliage. Give it full sun, well-drained soil, and avoid wet, rich ground.
Festuca glauca, commonly known as blue fescue, is a species of flowering plant in the grass family, Poaceae. It is a commonly cultivated evergreen or semi-evergreen herbaceous perennial.
In cultivation F. glauca can reach a height of 14–18 cm (6–7 in) (inflorescences typically bring total clump height to 20–25 cm (8–10 in)). It does best in well-draining soil as plants will not grow well in wet soils. It tolerates dry and low nutrient soils. Plant in a full sun for best foliage colour. It will also grow in a lightly shaded position. Will tolerate drought, neglect and lack of nutrients but prefers regular watering. If plant has a large amount of dead leaves, prune back to 40mm from ground level. This is to be done in winter. Lift and divide clumps if needed (also to be done in winter). Division of established clumps in winter is the easiest method although plants can also be grown from seed.
Plants require frequent division as clumps tend to die out in the center and need to be divided, replanted or replaced every 2–3 years. Plant foliage may decline considerably in very hot, humid summers. Weeds often build up amongst the clumps when used as groundcover and need to be removed by hand.
Blue fescue is native to France, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland.
California fescue · Spiky Fescue · Idaho fescue · Sheep fescue · Lolium pratense · Fescue · Red fescue · Furrowed Fescue · Fescue · Festuca incurva
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Festuca glauca by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
