Helictotrichon sempervirens
blue oat grass
Poaceae

Characteristics: Great for adding movement and sound in the garden with a rustling in the wind. Showy inflorescence that grows more than 1m tall. Flattened grey-blue, evergreen leaves that never grow more than 60cm tall. Forms a nice, rounded hemispherical clump of blue leaves over winter. Popular and available.

Growing conditions: Prefers sun and well-drained soil. It is a perfect landscape subject- well-behaved, doesn’t spread, stays put, long lived, stays perfect.

Limitations: Maintenance education is necessary, otherwise people will do stupid things to it. It will accumulate dead leaves and most landscape crews will cut it back when all you need to do is run a hand through the leaves and pull out the dead ones.