This is a photo of my Leymus arenarius "Blue Dune" grass. It is an ornamental.
The little tag read: 3 foot strappy dusty blue leaves are really beautiful and have pretty wheat looking seed heads. It's tough and doesn't get beat down by wind or rain. It will grow in most any soil and conditions and light and moisture. Hardy to minus 30. And the clump will be 3 x 3 ft.
Unless you are wanting to cover a large area with nothing but this grass - DO NOT PLANT IT - IT IS INVASIVE. Not just invasive but hard to pull, destroy and kill. Because it is so dense and spreads by rhizomes it will kill most other plants in it's way; including perennials and bushes.
My reasoning for purchasing: I like a few blue flowers because I have a blue porch and accessories. I don't do too many because they aren't very attractive to beneficial birds and insects. When I saw this pretty blue grass (with no warnings attached) I thought I'd found another innocent pretty.
The lesson learned: Research before you buy an unknown. Perhaps in the dessert it would be contained. Perhaps in the sand dunes. But, place it in the good Illinois soil and conditions and "Katie bar the door" it is off and running.
I dug up the original patch that was threatening my entire southern bed and had to continue to pull starts for two years. I put the original patch out by a fence I didn't want to constantly trim around and a bare spot by my husband's shed where nothing would grow. Guess what - it is growing and rapidly.
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