«Elija Blue» - Organic Festuca Seeds

Organic Festuca «Elija Blue»

This distinctive evergreen forms tidy bright-blue bunches, which make this plant one of the most ornamental of the drought-tolerant, fine textured, cold-country grasses. Blue Festuca will be a real attention-getter in your lawn. The spectacular, non-fading blue foliage and unique growing habits make this plant ideal for ground cover, border front or rock garden accent or edging plant.

The Blue Festuca foliage is sky blue to blue-green, and forms a dome-shaped, porcupine-like tuft of erect to arching, needle-like blades radiating upward and outward to a height of 6-8" (inflorescences typically bring total clump height to 10-14"). Light green flowers with a purple tinge appear in terminal panicles atop stems rising above the foliage in late spring to early summer, but inflorescences are not very showy. The flowers give way to buffy seed heads which some gardeners find attractive but others find detractive to both the symmetry of the plant and the foliage color.

Hardiness zones : 4-9 (-32c/-25f, -5c/25f). Festuca Ovina is easily grown in average; dry to medium, well-drained soil (will die on clay). The plant tolerates light shade, but best foliage color is obtained in full sun. The clumps tend to die out in the center and need to be divided and replanted or replaced every 2-3 years. Cut back the foliage in early spring to 3-4" to tidy the clumps and to facilitate the emergence of the new leaf blades.

The clumps may decline in hot, humid summers, and should be cut back if such problem occurs. Mass densely (plant 8-10" apart) when planting as a ground cover since the clumps do not spread outward very much and weeds may grow between the clumps if they are spaced too far apart. Blue fescue will survive harsh mountain winters. This plant needs protection from excessive overhead water in humid weather. This grass is quite suitable for seashore planting since it can take exposure to windblown sand and even salt spray.