Festuca glauca ‘Elijah Blue’ (Blue Fescue 'Elijah Blue')

Brilliantly blue. Smallish and very well-behaved forming neat bobble-hat mounds of around 0.5ft x 0.5ft, this Festuca is an essential grass for any garden. The chalky blue of the foliage sits beautifully against anything mineral, actually. Wonderful flanking sandstone pavers in roly-poly avenues and a total must-have for any garden concept that leans toward the Mediterranean. The colour and contrast this grass brings to any spot is just spot on. That spot needs to be sunny though: it's not a fan of shade at all. Chop it down closely at the end of winter to allow new blue growth to get going: combing out last-years brown stems while the new stuff is halfway-emergent is pure purgatory.

This aspect aside, it’s a real sparkler of a small grass that punches way above its weight for impact in any garden. ‘Elijah Blue’ is also the name of Cher’s son. You don’t need to know that but there you go.