Listen to bpgreen when he comes along to reply to this. He's the man for low water grasses that look like a lawn.

It partly depends on what your goals are. If you're looking for the lowest possible water use and don't mind a lawn that will be brown from October through mid May (maybe longer depending on where you are), then buffalo grass or a mixture of buffalo grass and blue grama will probably stay green through the summer in most areas of Colorado with no watering at all. But it will be brown while most of the other lawns are green and you'll need to completely kill the existing lawn first.

If you want to mix in something that is green at about the same times as the KBG lawns, and you're willing to water deeply every couple of weeks during dry spells, you could plant a mixture like I've been planting. I've got a mixture of western and streambank wheatgrass in the front and sheep fescue in the back. I've got some blue grama in the parking strips (since they heat up fast, a warm season grass does fine there).

The sheep fescue needs the least amount of water, but will go dormant even with water if it gets too hot.

Western wheatgrass is almost more of a blue than a green, but will stay green longer without water than streambank wheatgrass.

Any of them will live with no additional water, but you'll need to water every week or every couple of weeks to keep them green. I've watered 4 times this year, but parts of my lawn have gone dormant. The western wheatgrass is still green in areas where all of the other grass is dormant.

All of the choices I've listed so far are native. The wheatgrasses both spread by rhizomes and buffalo grass spreads by stolons. The sheep fescue and blue grama are bunch grasses, although they will spread a little by tillering if they're mowed.

Another choice is crested wheatgrass. It was introduced to north America from Siberia. I used to have a lower opinion of it, but I recently discovered something growing and found out that it was crested wheatgrass and decided that it's nicer looking than I had thought before. Older varieties of crested wheatgrass are bunch grasses, but newer varieties spread through rhizomes. It will live with no water and will stay green if you water about the same as streambank wheatgrass. It will only spread if it's watered.

If you're looking for an existing seed mix, Wheatland Seeds has a Cabin Mix that was designed to be planted in an area where it would not necessarily be mowed or watered at all. If it's in a lawn setting, it will need to be mowed, but not as often as KBG. It will also stay green better if it is mowed and watered occasionally.

If I had it to do over again, I would kill my existing lawn first and completely replace the KBG with the native grasses instead of just trying to gradually reduce the KBG by watering more for the native grasses. I would have had more native grass growing and would have saved a lot on water over the past few years if I had gone that route.

I've had better luck with dormant seeding than with fall seeding, but if you get enough monsoon rains, a fall seeding should work, also.

One other thing you might consider adding to the lawn is some clover. If you've got alkaline soil, strawberry clover (Palestine is probably the best choice) will work better. If you've got acidic soil, go with Dutch white clover. I've got some Palestine strawberry clover and it's stayed green in areas where most of the grass (other than the western wheatgrass) has gone dormant.

This is the first year that I've had enough of the native grass in the lawn to cut back as much as I have (once every two weeks unless it rains). I think some of the grass that has gone dormant will stay green longer next year as it gets more established and is able to develop the roots it needs (some of these grasses will develop roots that go more than 10 feet deep.

See!

Like getting a sip of water from a fire hose. Getting a low water lawn seems like more than a hobby for him. He's the best expert on this topic I've seen on any forum. His lawn actually looks like a lawn and not a thin weed patch.

I just checked the page I linked and for a lawn setting I think I would go for a higher rate than what they list. I would probably double their rate if you're planting a new lawn. If you're overseeding and plan to keep the existing grass, the rate they list is fine.

They also sell strawberry clover.

Here is a link to their price list. I think that may be the price for bulk seeds and prices for quantities for lawns may be a bit higher.

thanks bpgreen, I think I'll go w/ a blend of wheatgrass & sheep fescue. I was wondering if you could mix those, but since it's in the blend you suggested it must be OK.

I've got a mixture of western and streambank wheatgrass in front and sheep fescue in the back. More streambank than western came up in front, so I'm going to overseed with more western wheatgrass this fall and will add a small amount of crested wheatgrass as well. I'm also planning to add some wheatgrass to the back because the sheep fescue suffers in the heat. So starting next year, I'll have a wheatgrass sheep fescue mixture in the back.

Do you mow yours, or just let it grow?

I mow. I also water every couple of weeks. I want it to be green and to look like a lawn (perhaps a slightly different color, but otherwise a lawn). I just want to do it with less water.

Mowing and watering a little will help to keep it green and will also help it to spread. One thing to note is that the native grasses generally do better when they're mowed high. I keep my mower on the highest setting.

After aerating, I seeded w/ a mixture of wheatgrasses and fine fescue. I've been watering twice a day except when it rains. It's been 2 weeks now, how long do I need to keep watering twice a day? I don't see anything sprouting yet. It's been 50's and wet the last 5 or 6 days.

The fine fescues should have started sprouting by now.

Are you seeing any germination?

The wheatgrasses take longer to germinate. Did you plant the cabin mix or did you make your own?

Crested wheatgrass germinates faster than streambank wheatgrass and western wheatgrass is the slowest. Western wheatgrass seeds often stay dormant until the following spring.

I would keep watering (adjusting for rain) for at least a month, maybe longer. I know you're watering more now, but in the long run, you'll be watering much less.

Water enuf to keep it wet, maybe twice a day? Yes, I'm seeing some sprouting now. I bought 5 lbs of Genesse blend from rocky mtn seed co, which has Ephraim Crested Wheat, Sheep Fescue, Canada Bluegrass and Hard Fescue, & mixed it w/ 2 lbs of western wheatgrass. Didn't have time to order the cabin mix.

If you're seeing sprouting now, that's probably the fescue and the crested wheatgrass. I'm not sure about Canada Bluegrass, but I would suspect it would germinate like KBG, so 3+ weeks. The western wheatgrass is also slow to germinate.

Western wheatgrass is relatively difficult to get to germinate, and part of that is genetic and a survival tactic. Some of it will stay dormant this year and germinate next year (or the year after).

I think your plan sounds good. Water a couple of times a day for a month or so, unless you start getting rain or snow.

BP, thanks for all your help!

I'm not sure about the success of my work last fall. There are some healthy clumps of different looking grass. I think some is fescue & some wheatgrass. Overall doesn't look very good & quite a few dandelions and some other broadleaf weed.
Should I start watering and put on some fertilizer?
I'm pretty sure I need to aerate again, the thatch is pretty bad. Will that hurt the new grass?

I wouldn't fertilize much (if at all) with the sheep fescue, hard fescue and crested wheatgrass. I don't think I'd add more than 1 lb of actual N per 1000 sq ft per year with those and that would be split into at least 2 applications. And remember that's the max. The western wheatgrass is probably the only one of those that will really benefit from fertilization and it can get by without it when it's in a mix like yours.

If I were you, I'd let it go. It won't spread much (if at all) this year. It may start spreading next year, but you may want to give it a hand by overseeding late fall/early winter. I've had the best results with dormant seeding, putting seed down just before the first good snow for germination in the spring. My lawn is finally starting to really fill in well.

Thanks BP
Water? Aerate?

Water only when the grass you're trying to encourage (the low water grass) starts to look stressed. The lawn will suffer this year, but you'll be favoring the low water grass and the high input stuff will go away.

You'll want to be careful with weed killers this spring, because the grass may still be too immature to do well when sprayed. Since weed killers are volatile when it's hot, that means hand pulling (or weed hound) until fall.

Aeration probably isn't necessary with these grasses. They do well on compact soil and will eventually start sending roots down much deeper than the aerator will reach anyway. Aerating now will just pull plugs of grass out when you want to be letting it spread. If you overseed in the fall (or early winter), you can aerate to expose more soil, but if you're dormant seeding, that's probably not needed because the snow melt and freeze/thaw cycles will help get the seeds into the soil.

One of the beauties of a lawn made up of native and naturalized grasses is that it's not just low water. It's generally low input: Little or no fertilizer, less mowing, no aeration etc. Once it gets well established, weeds will have a tough time because they need more water than your grass does.