Piling into this late ... texas-weed is misinformed on several points, and I have the lawn to prove it. 1 - It doesn't need horizon-to-horizon sun. My lawn gets part morning shade from some big trees to the east and south and it's actually doing a bit better (taller, silkier) in those areas. 2 - UV Verde can handle the heat just fine. See the link. 3 - I don't know about traffic. All we have is quail running across it. If it was lightly played on by a child and a small mostly indoors dog, it might do just fine. 3 - Soil doesn't need to be heavy clay, it just can't be pure sand. As for the watering and mowing, it's taking 1/2 the water of Bermuda and doesn't really need to be mowed. Here is a link that might be useful: Buffalo grass in Phoenix AZ, 4 summers experience

I thought of one other thing regarding native lawns. They sometimes take a few years to get well established. I read somewhere that many people feel that their native seeding projects have failed because they don't see much grass in the first year or so. The reason for that is that initially, most of the growth is down, rather than up. By that, I mean that the grass is busy putting roots deep into the soil and only after the grass has a well established root system does it start working on growing up and out. Your buffalo grass will spread via stolons, but the grama is more of a bunch grass. It spreads slowly by tillering, and mowing will encourage the tillering, but it won't spread very quickly. My point is that if the lawn looks sparse the first year or two, don't give up hope. Native lawns take longer to establish. Once your lawn is established, it will probably stay alive with no additional water (even in Phoenix). But to keep it green, you'll need to give it 1/2 inch to an inch of water every couple of weeks when it's not raining. In the Phoenix area, the only lawns that will stay green with less water than you'll use are the ones with the painted rocks or the astroturf.

You should see my old yard! :) I just get tired of hot weather in the summer and want shade instead. Lol. I checked out your blog and it says you water buffalo grass every 10 days? That's what I do with my st augustine grass too (in Midlothian, Texas located south of Dallas). Just moved to the hill country west of Austin, Texas. With frequent water restriction, my old habit of watering lawn very infrequently will come handy but it depends on the rules, I suppose. I've seen crazy rules where you can only water from midnight to 5am! Thank goodness, my new house comes with sprinkler system but I still hate it because they get in the way of landscaping for sure. Keep it in mind, it seems that ALL grass need deep watering infrequently to look decent/good which also to benefit trees what was my main focus but it turns out it works pretty good for grass too. 'Floratam' St Aug is the most drought hardy but not so strong cold hardy. When it comes to absolutely doing nothing, that's another story! When it comes to doing almost nothing in Houston, zoysia grass seem to do be best overall (some trees around). Not sure about Midlothian area. Bermuda is the king for sunny area but no idea for zoysia in more shady area. I need to get some buffalo plugs for my parents in law. They NEVER water lawn. Just trees if they even remember to do it. Blue Gramma too. I want to see how they do it. I SHOULD have dug up this unusual grass that NOBODY seemed to know what exactly it is. I posted a thread about it earlier. I love this grass. I can't believe I moved away without digging up a piece from the park where it was. :( Bermuda grass could not invade it. That was what caught my attention. It just slowly expanded out over the past few years.

It took me too long to write my post, so I didn't see David's response. I should have refreshed before posting. I'm surprised that the buffalo grass was mowed at 3/4 inch. Most of what I've read leads me to believe that it does better when it is kept relatively long. Some people even opt for a somewhat wild look because it generally only grows to about 4 inches in height. Seeded varieties are mowed more often to get rid of the seed heads, but it UC Verde is not a seeded variety, that shouldn't be an issue. I don't know whether it uses 75% less water than fescue or not. It definitely will stay green with far less water than fescue, but the amount of water that fescue needs varies greatly depending on soil conditions, the ability to develop deep roots, etc. Buffalo grass deals with drought in several ways. It has very deep roots, so it can get water from deep underground if there is any there. It also doesn't lose as much water to evapotranspiration. With the deep roots, it would probably be advantageous to water more deeply and less frequently, especially in desert conditions. The reason I say that is that if you water 1/2 inch, that will not penetrate as deeply and more will be lost to surface evaporation. If you water 2 inches, it will penetrate more deeply. The amount lost to evaporation will be nearly the same as with the 1/2 inch, but you'll lose that amount less often, so the total lost will be less. Did that make sense? I know what I meant to convey, but I don't think I expressed myself very well.