I've never planted a lawn of it, but I've planted a clump of Carex praegracilis in heavy clay soil with two young 60-pound dogs trampling on it regularly, and I found that it didn't at all mind the long, dry, summers that get much hotter here in the Sacramento Valley than for you in the Bay Area. I've been extremely pleased with it; the only problem I've had with it is that Bermuda grass came up in the middle of it and I had a very difficult time separating them. The sedge wasn't entirely thrilled about having me tear up its roots to extract the Bermuda grass. But after sulking limply for a few months, the sedge did recover and survive.

Jim my prairie is 8 years old now and there was a time when I thought it would never make it. I have waited 5 years just to see some plants bloom! It's very hard to spot seedling grasses in there first years. I'm guessing they are there, and will continue to spread. The only reason it would not be there is if the season was was very dry and the seedlings didn't make it. You may wish to try Switch grass and Prairie Dropseed also. Each plant type has its own needs and what ever the site is best suited for will thrive, so its hard to say if the rye will dominate. I have had it in my prairie for many years and it its not by any means the dominant grass. I have done well collecting my own seed and adding it to my prairie, but some years just don't favor the new plants. The cord grass likes wet ground so it may be a problem for you on your site. You say you like your prairie now, as the saying goes "you aint seen nothing yet"!

i find domant season planting best. dec-april here in z4/5 what i have been doing for a few years; id a clump of any grass u wanna multiply and dig it up so that its seperated from the ground but still an intact root ball. then i mulch em in good to overwinter. in the early spring, do what is called 'sweating', u can see all the newly forming plantlets in a few days. just rip a few together and set them in the 2 and 1/2 by 3in seeding trays. i usually grow em out 1 year but u could plant them in a few weeks. i like to put in large plants. larger the better for grasses. u will be suprised how fast they grow to maturity. mostly 1st year. much faster than seed.

I seeded on 8/10, so it has been 4 weeks and a day. I was traveling this week, but we got a lot of rain on Tuesday, so my wife turned off the sprinklers for a few days. I think the rain helped things along, because there has been quite a bit of germination in spots. I imagine the temperature drop (highs are finally out of the mid to upper 90s) probably helped as well. I'm still disappointed in the germination in some areas, but I think there may be too much dead KBG in those areas keeping the seeds from being in contact with the soil. I've got at least some germination throughout the lawn, so I think next year, I'll stop watering or start watering every other week, and the natives will take over. I plan to further rough up the areas that had poor germination and drop some seed tomorrow (I kept a little in reserve). I'll also buy some in late winter and do some dormant seeding. I'm also considering buying some "plug flats" in the spring. I'll plant a few seeds in each plug, get it to germinate and plant the plugs in holes I make with a turf hound. I figure that way I can get guaranteed growth in my "target" areas. I reread most of the thread and was amused by David's comment on the KBG "racehorse" because on the lawn forum, everybody bemoans how slow KBG is to germinate. But compared with natives, it's pretty speedy. Depending on how the natives are doing next fall, I may wait for it to cool off a bit and core aerate (didn't do that this time and I think it was a mistake) and overseed again, but with only the western wheatgrass (or maybe also the sheep fescue).