It's hard to imagine a modern garden without cereals. Having won the first place in the food sector, they just as quickly conquered people with their high decorative effect. In addition, they are unpretentious, hardy and extremely easy to care for. And the greenery of a wide variety of shades and shapes will not only successfully form an even lawn, but also emphasize the rock garden, decorate borders, etc. One of the most popular garden cereals is sheep fescue. It has a high growth rate, high grass density, making it the most attractive species for turf formation.
Kin Fescue
This genus from the Cereal family has about three hundred representatives, which are widespread in areas with a temperate, cold and subtropical climate, as well as in the mountains. Plants have an upright stem from 10 to 200 cm high, form large and dense tufts or spread with the help of numerous underground shoots. Leaves are usuallyrough, hairy. The inflorescence is a panicle, the fruit is a caryopsis.
Most of the species of the genus Fescue is of great economic importance. This is due to the fact that they are valuable fodder plants. In particular, red fescue, the photo of which is presented above, reed (resistant to soil salinity), meadow.
View description
Sheep fescue is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the Boreal-European type. It can be found throughout Europe, in Asia (temperate zones). The main habitats are pebbles, sands, meadows, light deciduous forests, pine forests. The plant is a good fodder for small livestock, but it does not find wide economic use, unlike related species.
Sheep fescue forms loose sods with thin stems from 30 to 60 cm high. The leaves are flattened-cylindrical, rough, 0.4-0.5 mm in diameter. The inflorescence is a fairly loose, oblong panicle with deviated branches, most often drooping. Spikelets in it are oblong or elliptical, up to 6 mm long, light green in color.
Choice of location and soil
All fescue are lovers of well-lit areas. These are sun-loving species that develop poorly in shade and cold. The best place is the southern slopes, hot and dry. Young plants are cold-resistant, so they tolerate winter well, but, starting from the second year, they grow, and someparts of the turf begin to die off, which leads to a loss of decorative effect. Sheep fescue does not tolerate cold drafts.
Making high demands on lighting, meanwhile the plant can grow on almost any soil. The soil can be sandy, dry, with ordinary garden soil, clayey, but with one important condition - good drainage and moisture permeability, which will prevent moisture stagnation. Fescues do not need overly fertile soil with an abundance of humus. Experienced gardeners say that the plant grown on stony and dry soil, characteristic of rock gardens and rockeries, looks most impressive.
Plant care
Sheep fescue, described above, is an unpretentious plant. Care for him consists in the timely cleaning of the bush from fallen leaves, dried shoots. After the end of the flowering period, it is recommended to cut dried panicles. As mentioned above, the fescue turf begins to disintegrate 2-3 years after planting due to the death of its individual parts. Therefore, if you choose bush spot planting, the plant needs to be updated and repotted regularly.
The frost resistance of the plant depends on the variety. Choose plants that are recommended specifically for your climatic conditions.
Propagation of sheep fescue
The main way of propagation of cereals is the division of turf in early spring. Daughter plants develop quickly and form their own beautiful bushes by the end of summer.
The second way is more troublesome. The mother plant is dug up in autumn and planted in separate pots. In winter, they are kept in bright and cold greenhouses. Avoid damp areas, as fescue rots quickly. In March, the mother bush is divided into several parts and planted in boxes with pre-prepared nutrient soil. In such conditions, fescue (red, the photo of which was presented above, or sheep) is kept until the beginning of June. Young delenki are planted in the ground at a distance of 4-8 cm from each other.
The seed propagation method is relevant if you want to get rare and (and) varietal plants. If the soil is favorable, then you can sow directly into the ground, otherwise the seedling method is recommended.
Using fescue
Sheep fescue is widely used for decorative purposes. Depending on the variety, the plant may have a different color or height, which allows you to choose a copy for any conditions. The dove-gray pointed leaves perfectly complement alpine slides, Japanese-style rocky gardens, artificial ponds, decorate borders and blend harmoniously with large deciduous and coniferous trees.
Growing an even and soft green "carpet" is the main area in which sheep fescue is used. The lawn from this cereal turns out to be ideal, and most importantly, it grows in the shortest possible time. All varieties of sheep fescue can be divided into three groups: high, low and medium. This feature, in particular,can be used for effective lawn zoning. The grass has a number of advantages: high growth rate, high density of grass, the ability to "hold" the soil, prevent its erosion, resistance to adverse weather conditions and trampling. Due to the fact that the plant has a root system deeply penetrating into the ground, it is not afraid of drought and freezing. Often, red fescue, sheep's fescue are used together to create a beautiful lawn.
What to pair with?
In our country, fescue is perhaps one of the most common cereals used in landscape gardening. If you want to use a plant not for forming a lawn, but for rockeries, rock gardens, mixborders, etc., then it will not be out of place to find out what it goes best with. When planting sheep fescue as an array or border, put hostas, cuffs, geyhera, tradescantia, that is, species that are much lower, in the foreground.
Or use cereal to enhance the beauty of large-sized plants, such as miscanthus, volzhanka, lightning. Against the background of even silvery greenery, they will look even more impressive. On the alpine hill, the fescue will be complemented by a felt chick, bluebells, spikelet veronica.
