Hi Jeri, Well there are many variables that could influence our results. Such as what is your soil ph in comparison to mine and is your water more or less acid than mine. I know even in my city the soil varies quite a lot (as the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens even mentions their differing soils on their website, and the RSABG is fairly close to me). The combination of soil and water differences may produce varying results with plants fed alfalfa. Also the origin of the alfalfa in your tea (where was *it* grown) as well as how strong the tea is. Are there components to your soil that would mitigate the ph raising effects of alfalfa? Just things to ponder. Also the individual roses that we each grow and their tolerances to ph ranges. I'd be curious how Reine des Violettes in particular did for you. Here is my Reine des Violettes (photo taken July 19, 2011), purchased from Greenmantle in February 2011 and planted in the ground right away (note alfalfa pellets on ground in background under other plants): From Reine des Violettes In fact I bought 3 plants at the same time from Greenmantle--Reine des Violettes (not fed alfalfa), Tipsy Imperial Concubine (given a very small amount of alfalfa), Duchesse de Rohan (given a moderate amount of alfalfa). All planted on the same day, adjacent each other, mulched with shredded redwood bark, watered on the same days by hand, same hose. All were growing nicely looked about equally green. Then I fed the alfalfa. One shut down growing and turned the same sickly color as Jenny Duval. That was Duchesse de Rohan. I haven't removed the alfalfa and her color has not improved. Then I have a species rose of which I have three, R. alabukensis. You might know this rose, Kim. I put one (15 gallon size) in the ground using Edna's Best and mulched with the redwood bark. Foliage a lovely dark green. I put one in a 15 gallon pot with only Edna's Best and mulched with the redwood bark. Number 3 I put in a 15 gallon pot in plain garden soil, and mulched with the redwood bark. Then I fed the plant in the ground with alfalfa pellets, the others I fed nothing. Continued watering all 3 plants on the same day, by hand with a hose. Plant in ground quickly became chlorotic. The other 2 not a trace, both still dark green leaves. I removed the alfalfa from around the plant in the ground. It's leaves are back to being dark green. Another experiment was an accidental one with an old butterfly bush. It was way too big, and I needed the space for all the incoming roses this year. So I chopped it way, way back, hacked out some roots. Added roses + bark mulch. No problem. Butterfly bush starts leafing out in multiple locations (hey, it had spread it was so happy!). Added the alfalfa. All new growth DIED. I am not saying alfalfa should never be fed to roses, but for my growing conditions, it is not advisable. It depends on the conditions in your gardens as to how well it may do for your plants. It is also worth considering the why behind the effects. Perhaps some are seeing reduced performance in roses due to this being fed. On the other hand in the right conditions of soil ph and/or water ph, feeding alfalfa may produce spectacular results. For me that would have been great as I have such easy access to it. Melissa

Do a web search for "recommended turfgrass for California", there is a site compiled by UC Davis that has exactly the information you're after. As to prices, there are also plenty of listings for turfgrass suppliers on the web and in the phonebook. Get yourself informed about the proper steps for best installation, either on line or through reference books at your local public library. You might also be interested in looking into turfgrass alternatives such as no-mow mixes, sedges as a lawn alternative, etc. Personally, if you don't really need all that square footage in turfgrass, there are more interesting less water needy alternatives to lawn these days. Your local water agency probably has demonstration gardens locally with examples of different turfgrass examples, as well as demonstration gardens with lawn alternatives to save water. A general principle is to keep the lawn area as small as possible or eliminate it altogether and use less water.

Don't know where you are getting your info but I do not know of any California native grass species that grows THREE INCHES OR LESS TALL! At least any that I have seen commercially available. Most California grasses are bunch grasses and these are the species that occur in meadows in the state. The meadows are an assortment of mixed annuals, biennials, and perennials with varying degrees of preponderance of two to three bunch grass species thrown into the view. Carex pansa-California Meadow Sedge Click here to read short info bit This sedge species according to Munz, A California Flora, can grow from 6 inches to 12 inches tall. It is found naturally along the coast in what Munz describes as Coastal Strand communities. What this means is that the species is found in areas that are cool and subject to coastal fog year round and may never experience any freezing weather though may reach the upper 30sF. This plant IS NOT A MEADOW PLANT. California meadows are summer dryland plants and can be exposed to broad ranges in temps each day from lows in the 50sF during summer with highs commonly in the 80sF to 90sF. Sedges are not really lawn type plants as they tend to spread rather than form a tight bedding of stems, though they can be forced to mat out by restricting the area in which they can spread. My personal experience with Carex species is that they spread out and in so doing the older stems die out as the rhizomes spread out. This link California grasslands passed off as meadows by the CNPS has an image of the Carex species and recommendations on planting etc. This site defines meadows that I define are grasslands, more akin to prairies,and not meadows which is a more open stand of plants with a preponderance of grass species. But that is just my bent on the definition. Here is a link that might be useful: Larner Seeds

Hey Ryan. One thing we have learned by looking at thousands of lawn pictures is...don't take the pictures on a sunny day. The contrast is too strong to see the detail we need. Having said that, yours are fine for this question. Where exactly do you live in SoCal? Oildale or Heber? Likely you live somewhere in between, but you get my drift. SoCal covers a lot of mileage where the zones move around as does the microclimate and the soil. I lived in Riverside for 15 years and elsewhere around the area for 16 more. In addition to the living I traveled from Santa Barbara to San Diego quite often and should be able to help if you can be fairly specific. I don't need your nearest cross street, but at least name the town. If you live west of the 5 and south of the Tehachipis, then Marathon II should be fine. If you are east of the 5 and/or inland of the coastal hills, then Marathon II is a water hog and you should consider either St Augustine or bermuda. Since bermuda will not grow in the shade, that leaves St Augustine. St Aug is a coarse bladed grass which will look like crabgrass to you if you are used to the Marathon II. But St Aug behaves much better than crabgrass. I just got this picture from a friend in Phoenix this weekend. It really shows what St Aug looks like in action. He was getting ready to mow... He just sodded that lawn this year. You can see how dense it is in the shade. Like a growing number of us, he's all organic. Here it is after mowing and before edging... Anyway I suspect watering is more your problem than shade. Do you water for 10 minutes every day? That is the general advice you get from the so-called professionals in SoCal. That advice is wrong. Deep and infrequent is the universal mantra for watering a lawn. Generally deep means 1 full inch all at one time. Infrequent means ONCE a MONTH this time of year for most of SoCal west of Mt San Jacinto. You cannot go cold turkey on this watering if you have been watering it every day all winter. What you can do is start to increase the time from 10 minutes to 20 and then back off on the daily part. Watch the grass for signs of stress and then water. The grass will eventually develop deeper and deeper roots which can stand much longer periods without surface water. I have a house on the edge of the Texas desert with parts of the lawn in shade that have not had irrigation water since October of 2011 and the grass looks fine. There are other circumstances in my situation, but the point is if you can develop the deep roots, the grass will not need anything close to daily watering. If you live where the temps get into the 90s in the summer, then you'll be watering once a week, but always 1 inch. If you or your soil has a problem with that, tell us what the issue is and we can likely help with that. Is this yard on the north side of the house? Does water seem to pool up in the area where the grass is not working? Worst case is you modify the shape of your flower beds and add more geraniums.