native grasses

[JohnF]

I'm in the Denver area and current lawn is KBG/fescues. We're at a place where we spend a bit of time away and might not get a chance to mow for 3 or 4 weeks and chopping off that much growth isn't very good for the lawn. So, this spring I began my research in using buffalograss for the lawn starting with reading the extension documents put out by CSU. That eventually had me chasing this bpgreen person all over the internet and finally landing at this forum.

So, bpgreen, would you do it again? (yes, I do know you would kill the lawn first this time but...) What I'm asking is, has the streambank WG/western WG/sheep F mix done what you've expected such that you would choose it again? I see that recently you are filling with blue grama and I'm wondering if you would choose a blue grama lawn instead.

Or anyone else. All questions are for anyone with an opinion.

I have 3 basic areas - a front lawn that I think I will include clover, a back lawn where the grandkids play (only occasionally) so will leave clover out, and a raised bed garden where I'm going to plant only clover in the paths. I understand the cons of clover and as a beekeeper don't mind the bees.

I don't mind a little watering (less is more) but I do need something that can be left alone for a couple of weeks without stunting when it gets mowed.

So, to all, cool or warm? Doesn't green until middle late May? I don't think I care. Not that I worry too much about what the neighbors think but what would you think if the neighbors lawn didn't green until middle late May?

[bpgreen]

I'm starting to like the blue gamma more than the other grasses.

When I started growing native grasses, I liked western wheatgrass better than streambank or crested wheatgrass, but it germinates poorly and ends up with wider blades that are more blue than green. So I'd probably leave that out and go with streambank wheatgrass and sheep fescue for all native, or add in crested wheatgrass if you don't mind an import that does well in the intermountain west.

Most of my blue grama had been "awake" for a month or skip, but there are still some dormant patches. Blue grama is a warm season grass, but it turns green much earlier than buffalo grass does.

Sheep fescue and blue grama are both bunch grasses and only spread through tillering (blue grama also spreads via seed if you let it). But they also tend to max out at about 4-6 inches, so you can leave it unmowed if you want.

I really only water 2-4 times a year and my native grades stay green with that. And I no longer fertilize at all. If I had all blue grama, I could probably get away without wasting at all (I base this on seeing blue grama still green in unattended areas near me).