Help the development of the site, sharing the article with friends!
Red fescue (Festuca rubra) is a common ingredient in garden lawn seed mixes. But what are the properties of the grass and how is it used in the lawn?
The red fescue is at home wherever there is a temperate climate - also in the lawn
No lawn grass is as fine-leaved and can grow as dense and carpet-like as Festuca rubra. On the one hand, this makes the red fescue an important refiner of ornamental lawns, on the other hand, it is commonly used on golf courses when the ball needs to roll particularly well. Because red fescue visually enhances the lawn in the home garden and also has extremely low soil and climate requirements, it is perfect for many members of our Plantura Premium lawn family.
Festuca rubra: Origin and Description
Like perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and meadow meadow grass (Poa pratensis), red fescue belongs to the sweet grasses ( Poaceae). Various subspecies of Festuca rubra exist in the moderate climate zones of Europe, Asia, America and Africa. Some of them tend to grow in clumps, while others tend to grow flatly through underground spurs. Common red fescue also grows well in poorer, drier soil and easily tolerates severe winters and heavy, frequent browsing by herbivores. The narrow leaves are grey-green and hairless. Festuca rubra is perennial and grows back every year to a height of 20 to 80 centimeters in its natural habitat. In mid to late summer, red fescue forms seeds on double-umbed inflorescences.
Tip: Festuca rubra is hardy and can be cut back deeply on a regular basis. Due to these good properties, it can be found in our Plantura lawn repair & shade lawns as well as Plantura sports and play turf in clever combinations of different subspecies.
Characteristics and uses of red fescue
The subspecies of the red fescue can differ significantly from each other. For a general overview, we have summarized the common characteristics of the species at a glance below.
What propertieshas Festuca rubra?
In the following overview we have summarized what makes the red fescue so special:
The red fescue in brief
If you look at the red-brown ears of grass, the species name is quickly explained rubra (Latin for "red")
By the way: The growth behavior of the various subspecies of red fescue is so different that they complement each other perfectly. For this reason, our Plantura shaded turf and also the Plantura sports and play turf contain types of both groups: This ensures a fine, dense appearance and good regenerative capacity. By adding the subspecies Festuca rubra ssp. trichophylla also makes our mixes more tolerant of drought, waterlogging, shade and even s alt that can be carried by grit onto the lawn in winter.
How is Festuca rubra used?
Due to its wide site tolerance, the red fescue is a popular all-rounder in all lawn seed mixtures intended for lawns with low to medium loads. In shaded lawnits shade tolerance is exploited, in sports and play lawns and lawn repairs the good regenerative capacity of the runner-forming species. The extremely fine blade is valued above all for representative ornamental lawns and golf turf due to its elegant appearance and the dense carpet formation. Grazing animals strangely disdain the grass, making it unsuitable as forage grass.
Different varieties of Festuca rubra
The targeted breeding of the red fescue strives to deepen the good characteristics of the respective subspecies and to weaken disadvantageous characteristics. To give you an overview, you will find here an example from each of the different growth groups of the red fescue.
Festuca rubra 'Barlineus' (Clumping Red Fescue): Slow growing; beautiful green even in winter; very fine sheet; very dense turf; good competitiveness against weeds; medium durability; ideally suited for playing and sports lawns as well as ornamental lawns
Festuca rubra 'Spice': Medium fast growing; not always green in winter; fine leaf and moderately dense stigma; good weed control and medium hardiness; good suitability for sports and play turf that is less heavily used: positive, as it has the ability to regenerate damage
In the case of golf turf, the fine, short-cut red fescue is preferred around the hole
Festuca rubra 'Viktorka' (red fescue with short stolons): Rather slow growing; relatively green in winter; extremely fine leaf and extremely dense turf; good competitiveness against weeds; low durability; good suitability for sports and play lawns and ornamental lawns
High-quality lawn seed mixtures take advantage of the contrary properties of the various groups of red fescue, resulting in a dense lawn that is easy to regenerate. Our Plantura sports and play turf and the Plantura shaded turf also follow this tactic, which results in the particularly high premium quality of the lawn. In lawn patches such as our Plantura lawn repair, runner-producing species are used, for example, together with perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne 'Corsica' or 'New Orleans'), which also produces runners, so that holes in the lawn covered quickly before weeds establish themselves in the lawn.
Help the development of the site, sharing the article with friends!
