i just reposted this in the soil forum.. i'm not sure how to delete it.. sorry

Matt, I would gladly have a lawn of bulb Oxalis vs. grass, but it's dormant too much of the year to function that way, disappearing during the coldest & hottest weather here. Beloved ground cover around/under shrubs when it's "up" though! If your summers are less hot, might be something to investigate, a test patch. The 2 I've encountered so far are definitely hardy here, O. crassipes & O. triangularis.

Josh have you only seen Astroturfî, or have you seen some of the modern day artificial grass? The comment you made sounds like a comment that I routinely made before seeing modern day - not Astroturfî- artifical lawns. The difference is that you don't know the fake stuff is fake unless someone tells you. Whether the site prep damages tree roots or the stuff doesn't let water pass through, I don't know. What I do know is the OP ask for something that doesn't exist. Drought tolerant grass that grows in the shade. Alternative ground covers would be another solution, one I personally would do but it sounds like OP is dead set on turfgrass.

In California you should assume the fungus Armillaria is in the soil. It is activated with moisture at a time when the soil temperatures are high. The fungus feeds on roots, dead or alive. When the brown mushrooms are noticed at the point where the trunk enters the soil, the roots are damaged beyond saving the tree. After the tree falls over and is made into firewood the fungus continues to live on, feeding on the dead roots still in the ground. We lose black oaks in our forest every year from Armillaria even though there is no summer water, only a drainage problem. Al