Blue Fescue Grass: Easy Care and Planting Guide

Blue fescue may just be the interesting, easy-to-grow plant that your perennial garden is missing. This well-behaved blue green ornamental grass is the perfect companion plant to so many popular flowering perennials.

Ornamental grasses have been so popular in landcaping for the last few years. You’ve probably noticed tall grasses like feather reed grass, switch grass, or maiden grass poking out of beautiful gardens or framing out driveways, but you may not have noticed the diminuative clump of dense blue fescue which is such a lovely addition to smaller spots in your garden or along walkways, borders, or edging. You’ll have to get up a little closer to appreciate blue fescue, but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in color, texture, and showy personality. I’ve been adding it into my gardens in quite a few different places this year and it always seems to be just the thing to offset my other garden plants, large and small, when I feel a garden bed is missing a little something.

The type of small ornamental grass we’re talking about today is more of a dwarf plant used for perennial gardening and is quite different from the tall fescue grass cultivar that you may have heard of that’s often used for lawns, turf, or sod.

Compact, easy-care favorite for small space gardens: How to Grow and Care for Catmint

My Introduction to Ornamental Grasses

I’ve always thought of ornamental grasses as a bit of a modern choice when it comes to perennial plantings and because of this I kind of thought that they weren’t for me and my old 120-year-old farmhouse. Blue fescue was actually my first introduction to ornamental grasses and I originally picked it up to grow in a pair of planters on my side porch. I love the color combination of blue and white, and I thought the blue fescue against my white house would be kind of fun and beachy for summer.

Because of blue fescue’s small size, and very controlled growing habit, I actually wasn’t too excited about how it looked in planters, but I planted it out in my garden at the end of the season and just kind of forgot about it for awhile. When it came back the next year, I noticed that it looked particularly lush and cheerful in the spring when the new blue-green blades of grass started to poke through and I started to really appreciate what a useful and intriguing element this little plant can be in a perennial garden.

Read next: How to Revive a Sad-Looking Hydrangea

Where to Grow Blue Fescue

Blue fescue, also known as festuca glauca, grows best in USDA plant hardiness zones 4-8. Here in zone 6b, this clumping ornamental grass is right at home and thrives anywhere I plant it in full sun or part shade.

As this plant is quite drought tolerant once it reaches maturity, you may want to consider it for the sunniest spots in your garden or even a rock-garden setting. It’s a great addition anywhere that you might like a little more interest for the autumn or even through the winters as it maintains its mound shape all year long, even through dormancy.

The more sunlight blue fescue receives, the more its blades tend to lean toward that beautiful silvery blue tone that blue fescue is so famous for. The shadier the location, the greener and less blue it will generally be. Be sure to plant blue fescue in an area with good drainage as it doesn’t like its roots in muddy or soggy soil. Well-drained soil is an important part of successful blue fescue growing.

Farmhouse garden ideas and inspiration: 11 Essential Perennial Flowers for Summer For the Best Yard on the Block

Blue Fescue Planting Instructions

When planting blue fescue, choose an appropriate planting location in full or part sun. For maximum impact and beauty, keep in mind that most varieties grow to a height of about 12″ with a maximum diameter of about 18″. When planting in flower beds or perennial borders, most gardeners like to have their blue fescue near the front of their planting composition so it isn’t hidden by taller plants.

Dig a hole about twice the size of the root ball and fill in halfway with rich compost or garden soil. Place your blue fescue into the hole, making sure that it doesn’t sit too low and sink below ground level. Fill in around the plant’s roots with more soil and pack down firmly to remove any air bubbles. Cover the area surrounding the blue fescue with about two inches of mulch to help the young plant with moisture retention.

Read next: Lavender Plant Care Guide and Growing Requirements

Water Requirements, Light Needs, and Growing Tips

Blue Fescue is generally a very low-maintenance plant and really requires very little help to look its best as long as you meet its basic requirements. It’s quite resistant to pests and insect activity and that really takes a lot of weight off of your shoulders as a homeowner. Here are some general rules of thumb to follow with blue fescue, although in my experience you do have some flexibility with these guidelines as blue fescue is quite adaptable to a few different growing environments.

Water Requirements

Blue fescue grass is considered mostly pretty drought-tolerant, but this applies mainly to the mature, established plants. Younger plants will require regular watering to become established and they prefer evenly moist soil whenever possible. Blue fescue actually prefers the cooler, wetter conditions of spring and fall and that’s when you’ll see it do most of its growing. When it isn’t well -watered or when temperatures are hotter, blue fescue just slows down its growing process. With young plants, this can sometimes lead to parts of the plant dying back and the plant may die entirely eventually, so moisture is very important in the first months after your plants are placed in your garden.

Growing Tips

Cut last year’s growth down to about 2-3 inches tall in the late winter, before the first signs of fresh new growth start to appear. This will make way for the vibrant new blades of grass and will keeping foliage looking good during the rest of the growing season.

Divide and transplant your blue fescue plants every 2-3 years following typically perennial dividing procedures. If you’ve ever divided a hosta, the process is basically the same. If left undivided for a number of years, you may find that the middles of your plants start to die down and you won’t have that full, spiky look that we all love about blue fescue. The great thing about the dividing process is that you’ll have twice as many plants to add elsewhere in your garden or you can share them with your luckiest friends and family. They’ll no doubt love this eye-catching perennial as much as you do.

The ideal shrub for any growing condition: How to Grow Healthy Boxwoods

Ideas for Companion Plants

Blue Fescue pairs beautifully with anything with a broader leaf in a darker shade of green, such as hostas, peonies, or hydrangeas. I particularly love them next to the glossy dark green foliage of my white roses for a play on the blue and white color scheme that I love so much. Pictured here is a variety called “Beyond Blue,” but also look for “Elijah Blue Fescue,” which is quite similar and very popular.

Blue fescue grass plants also work well as an additional green-blue element if you have a garden with frosty green lavender or even certain iris varieties and want something to provide a little variation in leaf shape but in the same color family.

Although I didn’t love blue fescue in a container-garden setting on its own, I’d love to try it partnered with some bright-green trailing creeping jenny for a really playful pairing.