Buffalo grass and blue grama are native grasses and are probably the most drought tolerant grasses you'll find. Blue grama is naturally adapted to your area. Buffalo grass wasn't originally in your area, but I believe there are newer varieties that are adapted (UC Verde comes to mind).

Blue grama is a bunch grass, although it will spread a little if it is mowed. Buffalo grass spreads via rhizomes. You can probably get either of these in sod form, but it will be expensive. Many people buy plugs and let the grass fill in. Some people plant these two together in a lawn setting.

The blue grama is a nice green color and is closer to the color of a "traditional" lawn than buffalo grass, which is somewhat grey. They'll both do better in full sun, although the grama will tolerate a little shade better than the buffalo grass.

Don't give it more than about 1/2 lb of N per 1000 sq ft per year or the grass won't be able to out-compete the weeds.

If you get no rain at all in the summer, you'll probably need to give them about 1/2 inch of water every other week to keep them green (most lawn grasses need about an inch a week or so to stay green).

thanks for that info BP. The research I've done on Buffalo makes it sound pretty good, especially the UC Verde variety. What about the more common types of grass like Zoyzia, Bermuda etc. ? Which of these would be the best choice for low water needs?

Bp, how does turfallo tech turf compare to uc verde?

http://lazygardens.blogspot.com/ This person planted uc verded

There's a patch of blue gramma at my neighborhood park and it looks pretty neat. I've never seen weeds invade it despite millions of them surrounding it. I thought that was interesting. Now the park is being treated by TruGreen. TruGreen seems to fertilize every month. Doesn't seem to bother Blue Gramma. I believe it can look decent on once a month of deep watering. I don't know about BP's half inch watering suggestion because it simply does not make sense to me. For clay soil, it will only penetrate 3 inches deep. That's all. It'd work better for sandy though as it doesn't tend to hold water like clay does. I think it looks a lot better than buffalo. Doesn't seem to get very tall. Probably can get by monthly mowing.

Bermuda (any culitvars), St augustine 'Floratam' and coarse bladed zoysia (Palisades, Jamur, Empire, etc) have good drought tolerance but still needs to be watered to look decent.

er bermuda or zoysia to stay green.

Elbeardo--I don't know much about warm season grasses, except for buffalo grass and blue grama (which I researched while trying to decide on a low water grass for my lawn).

Mike--I haven't done any comparisons, so I can't really say how they'd compare.

Lou--I got the 1/2 inch of water every other week from some guide I found online that compared water needs of different grasses. I agree with you that deeper watering on a monthly basis would probably be better. A year or two ago, I walked by a patch of bare ground in mid August that hadn't been watered all year (so no water after the last natural precipitation in late May or early June). There was a patch of green grass despite the lack of water. When I got close enough to check it out, I saw the telltale "eyelash" seedheads of blue grama. I know it doesn't need much water at all to stay green (I just wish it would green up earlier here).

What about Seashore Paspalum since you are coastal?

Seashore paspalum uses more water than bermuda, but you if you have a source of brackish water, recyled water or can blend seawater it might be a good idea.. It can stand high salt levels after the establishing period. you do have to fertilize it more at high salt levels. The cool thing is you can kill weeds by pouring salt on them!

On some golf courses where seawater started intruding into coastal aquifers/wells they've switched from bermuda to papsalum.

So... I guess the next question I wanna ask is.... anyone know a good source for UC Verde Buffalo grass here in Southern California?

er buffalograss is 75% less water than cool season grases 40% less water than standard warm season grasses.

For hahas i emailed both ucverde and tech turf and asked how their grass compared to the other one.

If zoysia needs 3.5" or 4" of of water in a month and buffallo grass only needs 2" but you get 1" of rain than you would have to water only 1" instead of 2.5 or 3. Is my math correct?

Elbeardo--I don't know which supplier would be best, but I searched for UC Verde buffalo grass and found a bunch of suppliers.

Mike--your math is correct, but I think your initial assumption is off. Buffalo grass only needs about 1 inch of water per month, so if you get 1 inch of rain, you shouldn't need to water.

Oh yeah i think i switched the cold season and normal warm season numbers, so all my grass figures should be half.

However in the desert, especially in the valley or in arizona im sure that it uses more water than stated due to heat. By the numbers im guessing that the only time this grass will need to be watered by LA is when theres a true long drought.

more water than stated 1"
(why cant this forum ad an edit button?)

Definitely Buffalo grass - UC Verde is a variety made for the region. Plugs, not sod or seed, but in about 3 months I had a mowable lawn and in 4 months I had TURF!

I'm still establishing it, but it's using only 60% of the water that established Bermuda would need.

If you get better rain and cooler weather than we do, it might not need more than an occasional soaking.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Phoenix AZ buffalo grass experience

as for buffalo UC Verde, is there a optimal time I should plant the plugs or can they be planted anytime? I'm going to be ready to plant a 350 square foot section in about a months time, mid september-ish. It should be warm around these parts (high 70s-80s) at that time.

It's a warm season grass, so it does best when it's warm. If it's in the 80s, you should still be okay, but it probably won't take off until next year. If you read lazygarden's blog, you'll see that it sat for weeks before it really took off (a spring planting).

If you plant in a month, it will probably last through the winter, but won't start spreading until next spring or summer.

Just how dead does UC Verde look during dormancy? I don't think I'd mind it looking like straw during the winter, but that might be the one factor that my wife won't go for. She's still in the "keep up with the Jones's" stage of home ownership. If the dude next door has got the sweet green turf all year, why can't we? Never mind the fact that he's watering all the time and applying chemical fertilizers like they're going out of style. I see all the websites suggest using some sort of turf paint, but I don't think I wanna go there. Does anyone have a good photo of a UC Verde Lawn during dormancy?

elbeardo -
I can't help you on the dormant look, cause I haven't had it long enough. But it will go brown eventually, which doesn't bother me. Just give her the "brown lawns are really GREEN" spiel, or let HER take care of it.

If you plant in early September with 12" spacing or closer, you should get full coverage. We went with the 18" spacing because of budget. A few places where we used up the extra plugs had 9" spacing and they were touching within a couple of months.

We probably has the first batch out the door after a Nebraska winter ... they weren't exactly out of dormancy yet. Getting late-summer plugs might give you faster results.

If buffalo grass goes dormant, it will look as brown as brown can look. There will be no trace of living tissue. However, I used to live in Hawthorne and am familiar with San Pedro. With the winter rains and moderate temps, buffalo grass might not go dormant in the winter. You'll have some winters that get cold and trigger dormancy but not many.

My concern would be with having enough sunlight. Buffalo likes all the sun it can get. You live on the east side of a big hill. The problem is you lose the sunlight in the afternoon long before sundown. If you have neighbors with great bermuda lawns, then you probably have enough sunlight for buffalo.

If you do get one of those cold winters where it goes dormant it might help to know how many gallons of water a year you used before and after the buffalo grass. A big difference between those two numbers might help you lol. I dont know if you have watering restrictions during droughts but next time you do have one and everyone elses grass is browning but yours is green make sure to point it out lol.

http://www.ucverde.com/Order_Care_FAQ_files/Establishing%20UC%20Verde%20Buffalograss.pdf

page6 is about winter dormancy