Helictotrichon sempervirens (Blue Oat Grass)

Well-behaved and highly charming, Blue Oat grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens) is a showy ornamental grass that grows in attractive, round clumps of gracefully arching narrow steel blue leaves. Resembling Blue Fescue (Festuca Glauca) but significantly bigger, it is the best of the mid-sized blue-leaved grasses. Semi-evergreen, it requires little care while providing ornamental qualities much prized by gardeners.

• Delicate open panicles of small, straw-colored spikelets appear in early-mid summer, held about 2ft. (60 cm) above the foliage on slender, arching stems.
• Easily growing in a dense 2-3 feet tall (60-90 cm) fountain-like clump, this western Mediterranean native thrives in full sun (tolerates light shade) in dry soils and requires relatively good drainage.
• Salt, drought tolerant, and deer or rabbit resistant, this cool season grass provides all-year-around interest thanks to its evergreen foliage in mild winter areas.
• Recipient of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society (1993)
• Superb as a specimen plant for beds or borders, rock gardens, and can be massed for ground cover effect.
• Cut back foliage in late winter.