Gardendelightsnursery’s Blog
Just another WordPress.com weblogFestival Grass/ Cordyline ‘Festival’
A new goodie for the garden is this showy evergreen perennial plant known as Festival grass. Botanically it is not a grass at all, but a Cordyline, a palmlike plant with narrow arching leaves in deep purple burgundy, striped in the center with pink. The narrow leaves arch strongly, giving a very graceful effect and appear as a very showy ‘grass’ in the landscape. This plant is very easy to grow and is evergreen for our local area. It makes a stunning display in the garden, or in containers. Make the most of its showiness by planting in combination with other colors of either leaves or flowers. Full sun to partial shade and it is deer resistant too! Basic water needs, well drained soil and regular watering is all that is needed. It is very slow growing, not usually forming much of a trunk at all, and probably should be considered a dwarf. Foliage will possibly reach up t 3 ft tall and perhaps a little wider.
Combination plantings include associations with Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ (Japanese forest grass), or any of the other cvs., Heuchera cvs. (the ever popular coral bells and their recent hybirds. These are perennials with flowers in season, but the new hybrids are amazing for their stunning foliage colors, patterned colors on the leaves, and ease of culture, and the Hostas in amazing variegations in whites, yellows, and blue foliages, their flowers coming as an added bonus in light lavender purples, blues and whites, some also being fragrant. These combination plantings will provide you with a lush foliage effect. For planting associations with flowers, try the new smaller growing hybrid Abutilons, the bells come in yellows, oranges, reds, pinks, and whites, and they are continuous flowering. Be sure to give enough space between the plants to allow them not to grow into each other.
For a more drought resistant or desert type scenario, try planting with yuccas, (the smaller variegated foliage cvs.), dierama(wandflower), white or grey leaved salvias or Teucrium(germander).
The growth habit of the plant is compact and the appearance is very graceful with the narrow arching leaves. The virtually sells itself with it’s inherent showiness. I particularly like it because maintenance is almost zero and it is showy all year with those variegated leaves. A wonderful selection for everybody to try!
