Speaking of Yuba City in rcantors posting While looking up google yuba city i ran across an interesting article, here is just a sentence i found In 1851, a Methodist Missionary in Syria sent some fig trees to Hanson, who planted them in his back yard in Yuba City. In 1856, prices of food and other things were very high in California. During that year he attended the State Fair at Sacramento and purchased two hives of bees, paying $200 or them Back then 200.00 was a large some of money i would think. Anyways if you like to read copy and paste to your browser http://www.geocities.com/heartland/village/2262/hanson/gmhanson.htm

All day affair?

Hi there--it's hard to say without seeing it, but maybe take some pictures in to a local nursery and ask what they recommend. I don't know if you're near Natural Gardener outside of Austin but they have a lot of bulk buffalograss, blue grama, bermuda and even horseherb. I have a backyard area that is mostly horseherb... I'm not a big fan of it because it dies out in winter, at least here, leaving a big empty dirt patch. It does grow in shade and in sun though. A couple years ago I started weeding out some of the horseherb and replacing that area with wildflowers and buffalograss. It's taking a long time to fill in but I'm being patient... take it from me, though, who tried this without thinking--sowing grass seed in fall (unless it's rye) doesn't produce much. It doesn't have enough time to germinate and grow... it likes warm soil. I'm curious what the tall grass is, though, especially if it's native... You might be able to incorporate it somehow and show it off--by giving it a more controlled look by making paths or something and planting flowers at the edge of the paths... kind of like "framing" the wildness! Have fun experimenting... it's so cool to start with a canvas like that! amy

I've re-done my yard at several houses I've lived in over the years. I drank the Kool-Aid and tied zoysia once. For the premium I paid, I was disappointed to say the least. Within a year, I had wild Bermuda popping up. I tried to hand weed for awhile, but finally gave up and just let it do its thing. I was also disappointed in its vigor, or lack thereof. Some spots were thick and full as advertised, but others were thin and spindly. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it as far as light either. While Bermuda can rebound better from drought that St. Augustine, it'll still look crappy and weeds will take over if not irrigated. One of my wife's friends had a new house built and she got the builder issued 419. After hardly watering in our micro drought last summer, the wild Bermuda popped up and has really taken over in some areas. It's easy to spot since it grows much taller and has a wider blade. Based on what I've read about it, if a gun was pointed to my head and I had to pick Bermuda grass, I'd try celebration. I don't have any firsthand knowledge to back that up though. As much as St. Augustine gets vilified, I'm still partial to it overall. Yep, a good watering once a week will get it by. Any other grass needs the same, really. It's not the PC or sexy choice in our neck of the woods, but that's what we're going with in our backyard we're renovating. It helps that our neighborhood's all St. A though. If we were the only one, I'd MAYBE reconsider. My $.02.