Festuca glauca, commonly known as blue fescue, is a species of plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

 in the grass family, Poaceae

Poaceae

The Poaceae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called grasses, although the term "grass" is also applied to plants that are not in the Poaceae lineage, including the rushes and sedges...

. It is a commonly cultivated evergreen or semi-evergreen herbaceous perennial.

Taxonomy

Common names include Blue Fescue, Blue Mountain Grass, and Grey Fescue. Originally described by French naturalist Dominique Villars

Dominique Villars

Dominique Villars or Villar is a French botanist. His main work is Histoire des plantes du Dauphiné published between 1786 to 1789, in which about 2,700 species are described, after over twenty years of observation...

, its scientific name glauca is derived from the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

adjective glaucus "pale blue-grey".

Description

Clump-forming ornamental grass noted for its glaucous, finely-textured, blue-gray foliage. Foliage forms a dome-shaped, porcupine-like tuft of erect to arching, needle-like blades radiating upward and outward to a length of 140-180 mm. 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. Flowers give way to puffy wheat like seed heads.

Cultivation

In cultivation it can reach a height of 140-180 mm (inflorescences typically bring total clump height to 200-250 mm). It does best in well drained soil as plants will not grow well in wet soils. Tolerates dry and low nutrient soils. Plant in a full sun for best foliage colour. Will also grow in 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 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 a ground cover and need to be removed by hand.

Large areas can be removed by hand or sprayed with Glyphosate herbicide.