"Elijah Blue" (Festuca glauca) is one of the most low-maintenance and Florida Friendly grasses around. It is easily grown in well-drained soils in full sun. Although it can tolerate some light shade, they show the best foliage color in maximum sunlight.
This Gainesville Landscaping Plant of the month has outstanding, icy blue coloration and it's clumping ornamental grass holds up even through the heat of summer. Buff-colored plumes create eye-catching contrast. Perfectly suited for edging borders or mass planting as a groundcover. Drought tolerant when established. Semi-evergreen.
They are intolerant of wet, poorly-drained soils. Foliage is semi-evergreen. Clumps tend to die out in the center and need to be divided and replanted or replaced every 2-3 years. Cut back foliage in early spring to 3-4" to tidy clumps and to facilitate emergence of the new leaf blades. Clumps may decline in hot, humid summers, and should be cut back if such occurs. Mass densely (plant 8-10" apart) when planting as a ground cover since clumps do not spread outward very much and weeds may grow between clumps if spaced too far apart. May be grown from seed, but variations in foliage color often occur.
Festuca glauca, commonly called blue fescue, is a short-lived, low-growing, semi-evergreen, 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 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. 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. Synonymous with Festuca ovina var. glauca and Festuca ovina 'Glauca'.
Genus name comes from the Latin word meaning a grass stalk or straw.
'Elijah Blue' is one of the best of the blue fescues. Synonymous with Festuca ovina 'Elijah Blue' and Festuca ovina var. glauca 'Elijah Blue'.
Compact and versatile ornamental grass that may be used as an edging plant for borders or path, a ground cover for small areas, or as an accent in rock gardens and border fronts. Mixes well with other ornamental grasses.
If you would love to have this in your Gainesville, Florida Landscape Design - please don't hestitate to contact our team of lawn professionals at (352) 378-5296 or the Contact form at the top of the page.
