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Keeping Blue Grass Blue

© Jojo Sigurgeirson

The Festucas, also known as the blue grasses, have become very well utilized in perennial gardens of all kinds. They like light and well-drained soil and lots of sunshine. Once established, they will need very little water. Being ever-blue, they look good all year, but really they're in their prime in mid-summer when they send up golden wheat-flower spikes to about 1 foot tall. Using and Combining Festucas
Their uses are many. They look great as a border edging, especially when they do more than just edge. Each clump of Festuca will become a hummock of blue, and if you plant them about 8 inches to 1 foot apart in a cluster, their appearance becomes quilted. This effect becomes very interesting when combined in a grid with other hummocking grasses, such as Carex 'Frosty Curls'. Imagine a garden quilt of brown and silver-blue! Another nice combination is blue Festuca backed by Blue Oat Grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens), which looks exactly the same except bigger, with flowers in summer to 3 feet tall. Other highly attractive blue grasses include Molinia arundinacea 'Sky Racer' and Panicum virgatum of several varieties. 'Prarie Skies' and 'Heavy Metal' are my personal favourites, but all are bluish with the most striking mahogany to orange fall colours. A garden of such monotone blue qualities might be a bit boring. I have snuck many other colours into my blue grass border. New Zealand Flax is hardy here, so I have added a few clumps of this in the deep read variety (Phormum tenax 'Atropurpurea'). In the background, quite a long way away, is a large purple smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria 'Purpurea') Once you start pulling a whole garden together with any colour, you notice the other things it goes well with and it can end up creating harmony throughout. At the same time, it can cause an eyesore. Of course, editing out is a very important part of ornamental gardening. Don't be afraid to turf stuff out if it is ruining the look you are trying to achieve. The garden pictured to the right illustrates a good use of Festuca 'Elijah Blue'. The deep green mounds are small muho pines (Pinus mugho 'Mugha'). One day these will get too large and overgrow everything else in this bed. The spring-flowering heathers are very nice though. They're similarly shaped, and the colours are certainly a contrast, so it works. Browning Out - Blues that won't stay blue
The problem with almost all blue festucas comes when they start turning brown. This appearance is natural over time but can be alleviated in the following ways...