Is Blue Fescue deer resistant?
Festuca glauca
About Blue Fescue
Neat blue-grey tufts that deer ignore, useful for edging and for repeating through a gravel planting. It is short-lived by nature and dies out from the centre after three or four years, leaving a ring of living grass around a dead middle. That is not a disease and not something you did. Lift, split the living outer sections and replant, discarding the dead core. Colour is best in poor dry ground and full sun. Rich soil turns it greener and softer and shortens its life further. Comb the dead thatch out with your fingers in spring rather than cutting it back hard. It is evergreen and does not regrow from a stub the way a deciduous grass does.
Soil and care
- Soil pH
- 6 to 7.5
- Drainage
- Sharp, gritty. Will rot in wet soil
- Water
- Low
- Spacing
- 10 to 14 in apart
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Maintenance
- Moderate
Similar to Blue Fescue
Other ornamental grasss with the same deer rating.
- Big BluestemAndropogon sp.Zones 3–9, genus rangeRarely damaged
- Blue Oat GrassHelictotrichon sempervirensZones 4–8Rarely damaged
- Clump BambooFargesia sp.Zones 5–9, genus rangeRarely damaged
- Feather Reed GrassCalamagrostis sp.Zones 4–9, genus rangeRarely damaged
- Fountain GrassPennisetum alopecuroidesZones 6–9Rarely damaged
- Giant Japanese Silver GrassMiscanthus floridulusZones 5–9Rarely damaged
Where Blue Fescue grows
Hardy across most of these 50 states on zone range alone. Mountain and coastal areas sit outside the ranges used here, so check your own zone before ordering.
- Pennsylvania
- New Jersey
- New York
- Connecticut
- Massachusetts
- Virginia
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Wisconsin
- Ohio
- Indiana
- Illinois
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- Tennessee
- Georgia
- Texas
- Colorado
- California
- Oregon
- Washington
- New Hampshire
- Vermont
- Maine
- Rhode Island
- Delaware
- West Virginia
- Kentucky
- South Carolina
- Florida
- Alabama
- Mississippi
- Louisiana
- Arkansas
- Oklahoma
- Kansas
- Nebraska
- Iowa
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- Montana
- Wyoming
- Idaho
- Utah
- Nevada
- Arizona
- New Mexico
- Alaska
- District of Columbia
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Every list Blue Fescue belongs to.
Hardy in these zones
Common questions about Blue Fescue
- Is Blue Fescue deer resistant?
- Blue Fescue (Festuca glauca) is rated Rarely Damaged on the Rutgers NJAES four-tier scale. Deer almost always leave this alone.
- What hardiness zones does Blue Fescue grow in?
- Blue Fescue is hardy in USDA zones 4 to 8. Outside that range it will either not survive winter or will struggle with summer heat.
- Does Blue Fescue grow in shade?
- No. Blue Fescue wants full sun and will grow thin and flop in shade.
- How big does Blue Fescue get?
- Mature height is roughly 9–12 in. Growth rate is slow.