Plants: Festuca glauca - Blue Fescue Grass

Fescue develops deeper foliage color when grown in full sun, but it can tolerate partial shade, and should be grown in part shade in areas with hot summers It is drought tolerant, and grows best in poor, sandy, well drained soils. It cannot tolerate heavy, wet soils or constant high humidity. Blue fescue usually is grown as a border or edging plant. Its fine texture and neat, compact shape make it well suited to line a path or mark the front of a perennial border.

Use groups of blue fescue in the flower bed, and let the silvery blue-gray foliage intensify white and pastel colors, and cool down the reds and oranges. Planted close together in masses, clump-forming blue fescue makes a striking ground cover, although the tussocks have a tendency to die out in the center if not divided often enough. Tolerant of salty soil and coastal conditions, blue fescue is a good choice for seaside gardens. Blue fescue thrives in dry, sandy soils. Use it in rock or cactus gardens to provide textural diversity. Blue fescue is a pretty little blue-gray cushion in mixed borders or in rock gardens, but it really shines in groups. When other grasses have turned straw-brown in winter, blue fescue remains steely blue.

Publisher: Hirt's Gardens