Festuca glauca - blue fescue... cut off seed heads..? 28 May 2021 at 1:17PM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 2 replies 207 views

RainbowsInTheSpray

I have a couple of attractive clumps of blue fescue grass which, for the first time, are putting up seed stalks. I'm wondering whether allowing the plants to set seed will mean that they die afterwards. Yes, I could collect the seed and try to propagate but I'd prefer to avoid this. Does anyone know the answer?

Davesnave

I think the RHS might know, and as they don't mention this grass requiring the seed heads removed, I'd say it's unnecessary.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/112608/Festuca-glauca-Blaufuchs/Details

twopenny

I've just bought some of this and it produced seed heads so I looked it up

"To keep the foliage looking good, remove dead blades of grass, and remove the flower heads to encourage a dense, mounded shape. Leaving the flowers may cause the plant to self-seed; this can be fine where you want the plant to spread but will require culling out the volunteers if you want to keep it confined."

https://www.thespruce.com/blue-fescue-grass-2132481

The seeds look quite pretty I thought but I've cut mine off because they are newly planted just as you would with fruit trees and such. Give them time to get established. Picking out the brown old foliage is a bit of a pain as it's random and not just at the bottom.