Festuca rubra

i'd like to plant a small garden meadow of festuca rubra, and am wondering if there's any source for buying plugs of this grass as an alternative to starting from seed. thanks for the help, much appreciated - amber</p>

Amber,It probably depends on where you live in California as to whether there is a nursery that might have it in plugs or one gallon. Another question is why go with plugs? Seed is quite easy to use, is less expensive, more easily available, and most importantly-Comes up thick right away rather than waiting for months or years for the plugs to knit together.An exception would be if you are trying to get a particular genetic material from a particular range close to your home for example or a particular cultivar form. Seed of those is unlikely to be available. Anyway, Good luck on your search, lets us know what part of the state you are talking about and we will see if we can be of help.Best wishes-Dan </p>

Amber -

You might be able to buy some local forms of festuca rubra at a CNPS plan sale in your area. Then you let the plants flower and collect the seed. Two or three plants will give you a lot of grass seed.

The East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden has a journal called the Four Seasons, which published an article by Steve Edwards on establishing a bunchgrass meadow. You can contact the EBRPBG through their website and probably buy a coppy of that issue over the phone. It was several years back, but still quite timely.

Good luck,

Lori Hubbart</p>

The Theodore Payne Foundation has seed, as I`m sure does Larner. I`ve grown it very successfully from seed. Sunset Magazine featured a very large area planted with Festuca rubra in one of their spring editions. It was a beautiful, wavy sea of green. It forms a thatch, so I`m guessing it can withstand a certain amount of foot traffic. Someone else might be able to opine on the results of tests using this as a lawn alternative. I`ve got it in some raised beds with bulbs and perennials, so I haven`t tested the foot traffic myself. Let it go to seed if you canthe seed heads are particularly beautiful.</p>

Thanks John! I might have seen the same picture. Festuca rubra is native to Calif., right?</p>

I have some growing in my backyard planter bed in Benicia. I just walked on it, which was rather akward since they now have their tall seed heads, up to 24' The seed heads will look great through the rest of the year. I cut them down to the near the ground at the end of winter. I guess you could use them as a lawn, but you would be missing the most attractive aspect of the plant, the seed heads. The blades are rather fine and delicate. I started with three bunches six or so years ago, and it has spread down-wind with about 20 bunches. It is native to more than just California. I planted nassella pulchra in the front yard. It has reseeded and spread more densely than the festuca. I thin it out every winter to provide room for the spring wildflowers. Its seed heads are not as attractive as the festuca. Nassella might be a better alternative, but I think it all depends on how well-suited your site is for each plant.</p>