Mounds of Praise for Blue Fescue

Mounding plants… so many of us love them. We love them so much that, in some cases, we force plants into being so, using scissors and pruners as they come up and take shape. But other plants do all the work for us and stay attractively rounded—little near-spheres in the garden—without any help whatsoever. Not all Fescue grasses are like this, but Blue Fescue (Festuca glauca) is surely a plant in this latter category.

What Is Blue Fescue?

Blue Fescue never seems to disappoint when gardeners are looking for perfectly shaped plants—great controlled form, good color, healthy foliage. Now, back to the fact that not all Fescues are like this: Fescue is a genus of flowering grasses. Species within the genus are either evergreen or herbaceous perennial, and they grow in different forms and have different uses. Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea), as just one example, is neither mounding nor used as an ornamental plant. Instead, it fills pastures and, in some cases, is even mowed and used as turf for lawns that would otherwise be hard to maintain. Tall Fescue has a root system that will sustain it through periods of drought… a very beneficial characteristic. This characteristic is also possessed by the mounding and ornamental Blue Fescue, and it is a boon for this plant indeed, enabling it to take hold with strength and withstand dry spells by accessing water where other grasses with shallow root systems may be unable to.

Where Best to Plant It?

While some ornamental grasses are wild and fairly out-of-control when it comes to their shape, Blue Fescue maintains its mound of color, with thin blades bending to form its overall shape. Position Blue Fescue near ornamental grasses that are on the wilder side—say a large and carefree Pampas grass—and you’ve created an experience of contrasts. The Pampas grass will be tall, light-colored, and feathery-free; the Blue Fescue will be smaller, subdued and calming in tone, and refined. The two will play off each other beautifully.

Planting Blue Fescue near similarly shaped grasses, such as pink Muhly grass, is also nice. It allows the gardener to play with repeating shapes that appear with different colors and textures… playful yet planned out, and a very nice display. This display begs for planting en masse, as this fun repetition seems to require multiples in order to achieve the dotted effect that is so appealing. 

Then there is the use of Blue Fescue near nothing in the way of other grasses, but instead, near flower-covered beauties. Plant it with flowering perennials such as Coreopsis, in rock gardens near Alpine plants such as a flowering Sedum, and near annuals that are all color with flouncy petals. Very attractive. 

Festuca glauca shows off its own “flowers” in late spring and summer, with flower spikes (blue-green/beige-brown) that are feathery and wheat-like. They rise from out of the mound of grass but do not detract from the overall mounding look of the plant. They simply decorate it, adding more visual interest.

If this talk of Blue Fescue and how it might be used in a garden (Zones 4 to 8) does not get you interested in this ornamental grass, then the names of its cultivars might do the trick. How many different ways can "blue" be indicated with names that offer both clarity and cleverness? Blue Fescue just may be the plant to help us find out.

What Care Is Required?

Now, it seems worth saying that the blue of this ornamental grass is brought out in full sun. Plant this ornamental grass in a shady spot, and you might find that its color is not quite true to its carefully chosen name. So give it good sun (between six and eight hours a day, with a little shade from time to time to provide a respite), and in its first year, water it frequently (even twice a week at first) while ensuring good drainage.

But overall, care is minimal. Aside from needing to pull a few discolored blades of this ornamental grass from time to time and fertilizing the plant perhaps once a month in the first year, there is not much work required to care for Blue Fescue. Plant it with a bit of mulch to surround it, but not allowing the mulch to get too close to the crown. Water it on a regular basis at first and less frequently from there on out, (in later years, just waiting for rain, except in periods of extreme drought). Divide your plants every two or three years by digging them up, cutting into the crowns, and planting the divisions. Dividing them will freshen them up and ensure greater longevity (and the continuation of the ideal mounded shape) in your garden. And consider starting each spring with a good “haircut” to take the blades of the plant right down to just a few inches above the crown so that new growth can come up, unimpeded. 

Blues are desirable in the garden. Mounding plants are loved by many if not most. Easy-care is ever-attractive. Blue Fescue, Festuca glauca… simply put, it has got it all.