Early spring bloomers for buffalo grass lawn
11 years ago
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11 years agoRelated Discussions
Buffalo Grass and Blue Grama
Comments (8)Where do you live? Which desert? Is there ANY shade from trees, shrubs, fences, or buildings? These grasses will not tolerate any shade. Buffalo grass has the unfortunate characteristic of sending up seeds and flower stalks much faster than the grass grows. That makes it look shaggy about 3 days after you mow. Were you planning to mow? Were you planning to water it? Buff also has the characteristic of being thin and not spreading very well/fast. There is a variety called Turffalo which spreads like wildfire and grows very dense. It also has seed heads and flower stalks which grow at almost the same rate as the grass itself. It takes about 3 weeks before it looks shaggy. It does get a brown cast over it from the color of the seeds and flowers. Here's a picture. The grass in that picture was about 3 weeks since mowing. you can see that the grass in the front of the picture is in the shade. That grass was on the north side of a tree. It was significantly thinner in that shade than it was out away from the tree. Due to the density of growth, fast spreading, and the low seed/flower heads, Turffalo is unlike any other buffalo grass. Turffalo is a little expensive to buy, but since it spreads so well, you can get away with less than you think. If you have a small area, one tray of plugs would work....See MoreHelp w/ changing 3 acres of native grass/weeds to buffalo grass
Comments (6)I must not have been very clear. Buffalo grass is a native grass in my area. It is mixed in with other grasses in pastures and prairie throughout the natural landscape. As our lot currently stands, the weeds (mostly tumbleweeds) have taken over any good prairie grass that is there. We are not planting the 3 acres to lawn, we are planting buffalo grass, which is something we can keep maintained, is native and does not need watered. We are planting over 150 trees and shrubs and plan on introducing a variety of planting beds throughout the property with native wildflowers and ornamental grasses. I feel like we are improving our landscape in a very responsible way and am simply asking for help doing this correctly. Our lot is across from a golf course and although it is in the country (our lot backs a pasture for grazing cattle and circle of corn) it does have to have the look of a manicured area. I frankly feel that people in this area are very good at removing invasive, although "native" weeds that cause a nuisance not only in the way the look but in the amount of water they suck from the ground, and therefore taking over the native grasses. People here plant buffalo grass, keep it mowed and don't water it, which is what we would like to do. Thank you all for your help....See MoreBuffalo Grass
Comments (19)Update on prestige buffalo grass plug planting in Thornton, CO: It has been almost two months. I have learned a lot--a lot of things i would do differently the next time. I hope there is not a next time. The plugs come very tangled with the stolons rooting in adjacent plugs. The roots are 'pot-bound,' and don't tolerate drying out. May 1st was too early to plant for two reasons: One, still too cold. These plugs are coming from a warm greenhouse, so even if they would grow in May had they spent all winter in the ground, they got shocked going from the greenhouse to the reality of a Colorado spring. Two, a lot of weeds have not come up as of May 1st. It may have been better to let those weeds come up for a couple of weeks in May, spray, then plant the plugs with less weed competition and warmer nightime temperatures. I regrettably did not apply a pre-emergent. This was a mistake. On part of the area, I ended up spraying a Bayer or Ortho 2,4,D product, which the label says is rated for buffalo grass as long as it is not over 85 degrees. Well I sprayed it when it was about 80 degrees, and it knocked the plugs back for about 4 weeks. It did not kill them, but just now green is starting to emerge (I sprayed in 3rd week of May) Back to planting the plugs--the key seems to be getting actual roots covered by the soil. This may seem obvious, but most plugs the tillers were connect by a half inch of bare root to the root-plug-ball. I found if I covered not just the root ball but also the bare roots, they seem to do better. On the upside, it seems that once the roots start actively growing, runners start shooting off very aggressively. They seem to be well adapted to compete against weeds. If they shoot under a weed that shades them, then they just shoot longer until they reach a sunny spot. Also, they are very low growing--so mowing on a low setting will be effective as it wont cut the buffalo grass runners, but will cut the weeds. Last week I began a tedious process of covering plugs with plastic beer cups and then spraying roundup on the weeds. This will be difficult to do this week as the runners have spread out a lot. I have ordered some Drive 75 df herbicide, which is supposed to be able to be used on bufffalo grass to control crabgrass and broadleaf weeds. I keep watching my neighbors struggle with their KBG sod -- mowing watering fertizlizing. I hope my toiling is rewarded by someday having limited mowing, watering, and fertizling--but it won't be this year...See MoreBindweed in new buffalo grass
Comments (1)You must wiat till the grass is older for damage to not occurr and not sure secifically about buffalo grass. As it fills in the turf it forms should be thick enough to discourage the bindweed. Rare I see ( at least here) more mature stands of buffalo grass with heavy infestations of any weeds. Fall is a better time as the chems will translocate to the roots as the plant pulls energy fromt he leave to the root for winter storage Good luck....See More- 11 years agolast modified: 11 years ago
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Most of this color is from native annuals, shot during the otherwise dead time in August.
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Speaking of annuals for reliable, long lasting color and easy filler, if you want to add some easy and nice touches of color and texture to grasses in a hell strip its hard to beat Indian Blanket cooking in the hot sun out there by the street. They are a new addition to mine and I like the way they look in late afternoon sun with all the fuzzy balls catching the light the same way the grass seeds do. Its easy to pull any unwanted volunteers or yank the whole plant before the seeds shatter. Next year the strip will all have more little bluestem among the flowers since I added several small plants.
In truth I'm mainly interested in showing my state pride because Indian Blanket is Oklahoma's designated state wildflower. (do you believe that?)
Each helianthus annum plant makes neat and tiny bouquet of solid yellow from spring to fall, they don't get very tall in full sun but they really do like to self sow. They add so much color I don't object personally but they along with lazy daisy would definitely turn a buffalo grass lawn into more of a 6 to 8" low growing meadow so that depends on personal taste. They both stay low in height. Interestingly, they are coming up in various spots downhill from my house, some quite some distance away, they love cracks in sidewalks or by curbs in the street. I also saw some suspiciously familiar looking rudbeckia hirta down there too coming up in the crack of a driveway about 9 houses down the hill.
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11 years ago
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