blue fescue

Should blue fescue be cut back?

In climates where blue fescue is evergreen, you don't need to cut them back in the spring. Everywhere else, the plants should be sheared back to a few inches from the ground to allow plenty of room for fresh new foliage to grow. Blue fescue can be a fairly short-lived perennial.

How do you take care of blue Festuca grass?

Festuca glauca Intense Blue ('Casblue') (PBR)

Garden care: Comb through the plant with your fingers in winter to remove dead foliage. Container-grown specimens should be watered well when they are establishing. Plants may need replacing every few years as they may become tatty-looking.

Is blue fescue evergreen?

Blue fescue plants are evergreen but they do lose some of the older blades and grow new fresh deep blue leaves in spring. The older leaves adhere to the plant and spoil the bright coloration. ... Extreme heat causes the plant to die back. There are several varieties of blue fescue grass for the garden.

How fast does blue fescue grow?

Growing Blue Fescue Ornamental Grass Seeds

Sow ornamental grass seed in cell packs or flats, press into soil but do not cover. Needs light to germinate. Kept at 65-75° F., germination is in 7-35 days, depending on the variety.

How do you look after blue fescue?

Care is very easy and blue fescue doesn't require any care at all, except perhaps for watering during sweltering heat and in the first few weeks after planting. Adaptive to soil types with a great diversity of compositions, blue fescue is hardy and fears practically no disease at all.

How often do you water blue fescue?

Water as needed to keep the soil evenly moist but not saturated until the plant displays new growth, indicating that the grass has rooted. Thereafter, allow the soil to dry slightly between each watering, providing about 1 1/2 inch of water per week.

Does fescue die in the summer?

Fescue grows best at moderate temperatures and prefers spring and fall where it performs ideally. When summer comes, even well-irrigated tall fescue often is beset with both heat damage and a fungus called “brown spot,” causing death of some fescue, which then needs reseeding.

Is blue fescue poisonous to dogs?

Also asked, is blue fescue toxic to dogs? ... Switchgrass and tall fescue are less likely to be poisonous to dogs, cats or humans than to horses or cattle, but eating either of them might cause stomach upset.

Can blue fescue grow in shade?

Blue fescue grows best in full sun, preferring moist, well-drained soil but is tolerant of a wide range of conditions. The blue color will not develop as well in partial shade, however. It can be short-lived in wet soils and in areas with high humidity and temperatures.

Does blue fescue need full sun?

Plant blue fescue in full sun and in well-drained soil, although it will tolerate poor soils. The more sun this ornamental grass receives, the more likely it is to achieve its famous blue-gray color.

Does Elijah Blue fescue spread?

Elijah Blue Fescue will grow to be about 8 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 12 inches. Its foliage tends to remain low and dense right to the ground. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 8 years. This plant does best in full sun to partial shade.

Do rabbits eat blue fescue grass?

Rabbits will eat Blue Fescue and some others. We can avoid planting what deer or rabbits prefer to eat, but their favourites might already be growing in your garden.

Is blue fescue easy to grow from seed?

Festuca glauca germinates easily from seed sown in spring, but the plants will be variable. Take a small clump of seedlings and put them all in a one-litre pot of gritty compost. They will form a bushy plant and be ready to go into the garden in summer.

What goes well with blue fescue?

Blue daze or evolvulus (Evolvulus glomeratus) and blue-flowering edging or dwarf lobelia (Lobelia erinus) can be planted with blue fescue to complement its blue-gray foliage. They both grow in full sun or partial shade and require fast-draining soil.

How do you start blue fescue seeds?

For indoor sowing, use small peat pots or containers, fill with seed starting mix, and press 3 ornamental grass seeds into the soil. Lightly cover the grass seeds and keep them moist until germination. For outdoors sowing, weed and loosen the soil and add a generous amount of seed starting mix to the soil.

How do you prune blue fescue?

Cut Blue Fescue Grasses

Measure 3 to 4 inches along the grass stems from the ground. Cut small amounts of the plant as you go. Remove dead, broken or damaged foliage from the blue fescue plant at any time of the year to reduce stress on the plant. Prune blue fescue with clippers instead of pruning shears.

Does fescue grow in full sun?

Tall fescue grass can grow in full sun to part shade. These grasses are shade tolerant and grow well in areas where it's too hot for cool grasses but too cold in the winter for warm-season grasses.

Can I mix tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass?

Tall fescue is one of the grasses to consider for home lawns. Because of its upright growth and wide blade, it doesn't blend well with Kentucky bluegrass so it should make up at least 90% of the grass mixture. Tall fescue requires more frequent mowing and is most successful when grown from seed in early August.

Does fescue germinate in hot weather?

Planting fescue in summer conditions gives your seed plenty of time to germinate before leaves and frosts become a threat, but it can result in dormant seed for a time if there are prolonged heat waves and little rainfall. As long as your seed is still on the ground, it will come up when the time is right.

Why is my fescue grass dying?

In summer, when nighttime temperatures are above 65 degrees Fahrenheit, accompanied by wet weather, fescue grass, especially tall fescue, may develop yellow or brown patches of dead grass. Often, the damage is due to "brown patch," a disease caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia solani.