mrsjtak
Newly Registered
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2014 6:32 pm

Alternative lawn in California

My husband and I have a small sized house on a large plot of land, about a third of an acre. We live in Orange County, at the base of La Habra Heights. We let our lawn die due to drought, but we would like to do something with the area other than succulents or just hardscape. We were hoping we could grow something that would be lawn like but native to our area and would require less water. I did some research and read about a hybrid called UC Buffalo Verde, it can be mowed and is soft and lawn like but requires much less water. We aren't experienced gardeners AT ALL and went to our local nursery and Armstrong's. No one seems familiar with growing native grasses, and all have discouraged us from trying. Anyone on here familiar with this at all? Or know of any resources we can contact for help?

CharlieBear
Green Thumb
Posts: 588
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 5:19 pm
Location: Pacific NW

The best way to find out if it will grow well in your micro climate would be to make a small planting of it and see how is performs for you. The planting could be as small as 4x4. take out as section of lawn where it won't upset the neighbors and test it next year and then go from there. The problem I have seen with native grasses is that they generally resent being mowed as short as the typical lawn is often mowed and some can be a little aggressive. Whether that particular one will be for you I don't know. The only way I know to guess is to check and see if it is on any lists for aggressiveness in your state. If it is, then either don't plant it at all or be very careful not to even let it go to seed.

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MichaelC
Senior Member
Posts: 232
Joined: Wed May 13, 2015 11:32 pm
Location: Scotts Valley, CA

My lawn looks truly awful given the drought and water restrictions - as well, I'll admit, because I'm not into spending a lot of time on a lawn. I'd rather spend the time on my vegetable garden.

I'm seriously considering overseeding with some sort of micro clover mix this fall. Also, Peaceful Valley (in Grass Valley, CA) offers quite a few alternative lawn mixtures and also advice for planting them. Their URL is https://www.groworganic.com.



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