Sheep Fescue: description, photo, planting and care

It is difficult to imagine a modern garden without cereals. Having won the first place in the food sector, they also quickly conquered people with their high decorative. In addition, they are unpretentious, hardy and extremely easy to care for. And the greenery of the most diverse shades and forms will not only successfully form an even lawn, but will also emphasize the rock garden, decorate curbs, etc. One of the most popular garden cereals is sheep fescue. It has a high growth rate, a high density of grass, which makes it the most attractive form for the formation of lawns.

Family Fescue

This genus from the family of cereals has about three hundred representatives, which are widespread in zones with a temperate, cold and subtropical climate, and also in the mountains. The plants have an upright stalk with a height of 10 to 200 cm, form large and dense turf or spread with the help of underground numerous shoots. Leaves, as a rule, are rough, hairy. The inflorescence is a panicle, the fruit is a seed.

Most of the species of the genus Oatmeal has an important economic significance. This is due to the fact that they are valuable forage plants. In particular, fescue is red, the photo of which is presented above, reed (resistant to soil salinity), meadow.

Description of the species

Sheep Fescue is a perennial herb that belongs to the Boreal-European type. It can be found throughout Europe, in Asia (zones with a temperate climate). The main places of growth are pebbles, sands, meadows, light deciduous forests, pine forests. The plant is a good feed for small animals, but does not find wide economic application, unlike related species.

Fescue sheep forms friable sod with thin stems in height from 30 to 60 cm. The leaves are oblate-cylindrical, rough, 0.4-0.5 mm in diameter. Inflorescence - loose enough, oblong panicle with deflected branches, most often drooping. Spikelets in it oblong or elliptical in shape, up to 6 mm long, light green in color.

Choice of location and soil

All fescue lovers are well-lit areas. These are sun-loving species that develop badly in the shade and cold. The best place - southern slopes, hot and dry. Young plants are cold-resistant, so they tolerate winter well, but, starting from the second year, they grow, and some parts of the turf begin to die, which leads to loss of decorativeness. Fescue sheep badly tolerates cold drafts.

By imposing high demands on lighting, a plant can grow on virtually any soil. The soil can be sandy, dry, with ordinary garden soil, clay, but with one important condition - good drainage and moisture transmission capacity, which will prevent moisture stagnation. Fescue does not need too fertile soil with an abundance of humus. Experienced gardeners say that the most effective is a plant grown on stony and dry soil, characteristic of rock gardens and rockeries.

Care of the plant

Fescue sheep, the description of which was presented above, is an unpretentious plant. Care for him is the timely cleaning of the bush from fallen leaves, dried up shoots. After the end of the flowering period, it is recommended to cut dried panicles. As already mentioned above, turf fescue begins to disintegrate 2-3 years after planting due to the withering away of its individual parts. Therefore, if you choose a clustered point planting, the plant needs to be updated and regularly transplanted.

The frost resistance of a plant depends on the variety. Choose those plants that are recommended for your climatic conditions.

Reproduction of sheep's fescue

The main method of propagation of cereals is the division of the turf in early spring. Daughter plants develop rapidly and by the end of summer they form their own beautiful bushes.

The second way is more troublesome. The uterine plant is excavated and planted in separate pots from autumn. In winter, they are kept in light and cold greenhouses. Avoid damp areas, as the fescue quickly rot. In March, the mother's 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. In the ground, young children are planted at a distance of 4-8 cm from each other.

Seed method of reproduction is relevant in the event that you want to get rare or (and) varietal plants. If the soil is favorable, then it is possible to sow directly in the soil, otherwise a seedling method is recommended.

Using Fescue

Fescue sheep is widely used for decorative purposes. Depending on the variety, the plant may have a different color or height, which makes it possible to select a specimen for any conditions. The blue pointed leaves perfectly complement the Alpine hills, stony Japanese-style gardens, artificial ponds, adorn curbs and harmoniously blend with large deciduous and coniferous trees.

Cultivation of an even and soft green "carpet" is the main sphere in which sheep fescue is used. Lawn from this cereal is ideal, and most importantly, grows in the shortest time. All varieties of sheep fescue can be divided into three groups: high, low and medium. This feature, in particular, can be used for spectacular zoning of the lawn. Cereals have 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 deeply penetrating root system, it is not afraid of drought and freezing. Often to create a beautiful lawn, fescue is red, sheep are used together.

With what to combine?

In our country, fescue is, perhaps, one of the most common grasses used in landscape gardening. If you want to use the plant not for the formation of a lawn, but for rockeries, rock gardens, mixborders, etc., it is not superfluous to find out what is best for it to combine. Planting fescue ovine as an array or curb, put the hosts, cuffs, geycles, Tradescantia, that is, species that are much lower, in the foreground.

Or use cereal to emphasize the beauty of large-sized moxibusters, Volzhanka, molony. Against the background of smooth silvery greenery, they will look even more impressive. On the alpine hill, the fescue is supplemented with a felt felted, bells, veronica spikelet.