Red fescue: identification & characteristics of Festuca rubra

Red fescue (Festuca rubra) is a popular component of garden lawn seed mixtures. But what are the unique properties of this versatile grass and what benefits would it bring to your lawn?

With its fine-leafed blades that grow in lush swaths which swirl and carpet the ground, no other lawn grass can compare to Festuca rubra. This gives red fescue a pleasing duality, not only as an important ornamental lawn grass, but also as a common, functional grass for golf courses, allowing golf balls to roll swiftly. Red fescue helps to visually enhance home lawns and also has extremely low demands on soil and climate. This is why we include this grass in many of our Plantura premium lawn seed.

Festuca rubra: origin and description

Just like perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and the Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis), red fescue, also known as creeping red fescue, belongs to the large grass family, Poaceae. Various subspecies of Festuca rubra grow in the temperate climate zones of Europe, Asia, America and Africa. Some of these subspecies tend to grow in clumps, while others grow over a large area via underground runners. Common red fescue can also thrive on poorer, drier soils and even tolerates harsh winters and the heavy, frequent grazing of herbivores. The narrow leaves are grey-green and hairless. Red fescue is perennial and grows to a height of 20 to 80 centimetres every year in its natural habitat. In mid to late summer, red fescue forms seeds on double-petalled inflorescences.

Tip: Festuca rubra is quite hardy and can be cut deeply on a regular basis. Due to these positive qualities, we include it in our Plantura Lawn Repair Mix and Plantura Shady Lawn Seed, as well as the Plantura Hard-Wearing Lawn Seed, each with clever combinations of different red fescue subspecies.

Lawn Repair Mix, 1.5kg, 10m2 coverage

(4.8/5)

• Repairs patches in the lawn quickly & reliably
• With fertiliser and lime for a greener & thicker lawn
• Premium lawn seed mixture with high-quality, certified grass varieties

£12.99

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Red fescue properties and uses

Red fescue subspecies can sometimes differ markedly from each other. Here is an overview of some of the common characteristics of Festuca rubra.

What are the properties of Festuca rubra?

In the following table, we have summarised what makes red fescue grass so special:

Festuca rubra can display vastly different qualities depending on the subspecies. Some subspecies grow in clumps, such as Festuca rubra ssp. commutata. This subspecies forms a dense, carpet-like lawn, so unfortunately, damage to the lawn cannot be regenerated via runners. Stoloniferous subspecies such as Festuca rubra ssp. rubra, on the other hand, tend to grow less densely, but are better able to quickly patch up undesirable bare spots in the lawn.

By the way: As the growth habit of the different subspecies is so diverse, they complement each other perfectly. For this reason, our Plantura Shady Lawn Seed and Plantura Hard-Wearing Lawn Seed include seeds from both red fescue grass seed groups. This mixture ensures a lawn that is highly regenerative and has a fine, dense appearance. The addition of the subspecies Festuca rubra ssp. trichophylla ensures our lawn seed mixtures are more tolerant of drought, waterlogging, shade and even salt, which can become an issue in the winter due to the use of road salts.

Hard-Wearing Lawn Seed, 2kg, 100m2 coverage

(5/5)

• Creates particularly strong & durable lawns
• Contains regenerative lawn seeds for thick turf
• Premium lawn seed mixture with high-quality, certified grass varieties

£19.99

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How is red fescue used?

As red fescue grass tolerates a wide range of habitats and climates, it is a versatile and popular addition to all lawn seed mixtures intended for low to medium stressed lawns. In shaded lawns, its shade tolerance is appealing, whereas sports and playing field lawns and lawn repair mixes tend to utilise the stoloniferous species’ swift regenerative capacity. Thanks to its fine appearance and ability to form a lush carpet, the extremely fine red fescue leaf is especially valuable as a grass for quintessential ornamental lawns and golf lawns. Oddly enough, grazing animals tend to avoid red fescue, making this species of grass unsuitable for foraging.

Different varieties of Festuca rubra

Selective breeding of red fescue strives to encourage the positive characteristics of the respective subspecies whilst suppressing the less appealing qualities. To give you an overview, here are a few examples, each from different red fescue subspecies with differing growth habits.

Festuca rubra ‘Chewing Red Fescue’ (crested red fescue):
Slow growing; beautifully green in winter; very fine leaf; very dense turf; good weed suppression; moderate durability; best suited for play and sports lawns as well as ornamental turf

Festuca rubra ‘Strong Creeping Red Fescue’ (stoloniferous red fescue):
Moderately fast growing; does not always stay green in winter; fine leaf and medium dense turf; good weed suppression and moderate durability; suitable for less stressed sports and play turf due to its ability to regenerate damage

Festuca rubra ‘Slender Creeping Red Fescue’ (red fescue with short stolons):
Rather slow growing; remains relatively green in winter; extremely fine leaf and extremely luscious turf; competitive against weeds; low durability; well-suited for sport fields, playing fields and ornamental lawns

High-calibre grass seed mixtures utilise the complementary traits of the different red fescue seed groups to produce a thick and regenerative lawn. We use this practical strategy in our Plantura Hard-Wearing Lawn Seed and Plantura Shady Lawn Seed which produce remarkably high-quality lawns. In lawn repair kits like our Plantura Lawn Repair Mix, we use stoloniferous species of Festuca rubra, for instance, in combination with another stoloniferous species, English ryegrass (Lolium perenne), in order to repair lawn patches quickly before the invasion of pesky lawn weeds.