Xeric Lawn Trial: Buffalo Vs. Blue Grama Grass

The following is a report on my trial plantings of Buffalo Grass (bouteloua dactyloides) and Blue Grama Grass (bouteloua gracilis). My half acre is approximately 75 percent lawn, so I was looking for both a grass with low-water requirements and a grass that was low-growing to minimize mowing. I have a gas mower, so reducing mowing is not only labor-saving for me, but reduces my carbon footprint a tiny bit. The only other requirement was that the grass had to pass my wife's look and feel test.

The results were affected by the fact that I live at the edge of a mountain valley (approximately 5,740 ft. elevation) where the weather can be zone 6 or zone 5 depending on the year. During the years of trials it was more zone-6-like. In fact, the second year the Buffalo Grass was in we had a very short, early Spring and a record number of 100-plus days in mid-summer.

The test area was a back corner of the lot that receives sun virtually all day. To emphasize what the exposure of this area is, let me explain that the term "Full Sun" used in most plant and seed catalogs means 5-6 hours of sun a day. These test lawns got roughly 10-11 hours of sun a day. The actual planted area for the two grasses varied because I used plugs for the Buffalo grass and seeded the Blue Grama grass.

Buffalo Grass (bouteloua dactyloides)

I purchased 70 plugs from High Country Gardens, a supplier I have used for years and that has never let me down, although you can find less expensive sources. Personally, I prefer to go with quality and service unless the price is simply ridiculous. The plugs came with great instructions and options for the Buffalo grass plug spacing. Essentially, you can choose how far apart to plant them based on your level of patience in waiting for them to fill in. I spread them out for maximum coverage (about 80 square feet) and the Buffalo grass filled in well enough that first year.

Watering - Because the test area was part of a sprinkler run that watered my existing, unknown type of turf grass, I really didn't get any data on how much I could back off on watering. But I can say that the Buffalo grass held up better than the regular turf grass when I let the watering go a day too long. I should mention that to conserve water, I do not automatically run my sprinklers, but instead turn them on as needed.

Growth - Buffalo grass is a low-growing, perennial grass that spreads via stolons (runners). From my experience with it, it would never need to be mowed. Mine never got more than a couple inches tall. However, most information indicates that you can mow it once or twice a year. Any grass should be kept longer rather than shorter. This blocks out weeds better and retains moisture longer.

Look and Feel - Here's is where the Buffalo grass met its fate in my yard, and not just because of my wife. Even at mid-summer this grass is gray-green. Of course this is explained clearly in all of the descriptions, so it was expected. But although not entirely ugly, it wasn't how I wanted my whole yard to look. Worse than that was the fact that it was only gray-green for about three months (late June through early September). The other nine months of the year it was brown. As I mentioned, my trial of this grass was during two of the warmest years I have seen in this area. I was really hoping for a longer season, but it was not to be. Having given the Buffalo grass two years, I killed it, tilled it, and planned my next experiment.

Blue Grama Grass (bouteloua gracilis)

Although Blue Grama grass is offered in plug form, I really wanted to see how a larger area would work, so I ordered enough seed to cover, they said, 1000 square feet. I enlarged the space where the previous contestant had failed, and seeded it. The Blue Grama grass germinated well and emerged in the number of days stated in the planting instructions. I could have been more careful in seeding, but I saved a bit of seed and was able to go back after the majority had sprung up and re-seeded spots that were thin. I did have more problems holding back the weeds in the Blue Grama grass while it was getting established, but it was much thicker and better at shading out weeds than the Buffalo grass once it was established.

Watering - I would say that the Blue Grama grass was at least as drought-tolerant as the Buffalo grass, and obviously more drought-tolerant than the regular turf. But again, I have not kept water-usage records. As I expand my Blue Grama grass planting this year to cover an entire sprinkler run, I can measure it against my regular turf's water needs.

Growth - The Blue Grama grass greened-up much earlier and lasted into the fall much longer than the Buffalo grass. Most people will want to mow it regularly. I let my patch grow until it went to seed (about 5-6 inches tall) before I mowed it the first time because I really like the pretty seed heads that look like eyelashes. Since my test area is where only I can see it, I was not in danger of being cited by the civil yard-nazis. After letting it go to seed and mowing once, I mowed again a month later and only took off an inch or so. My regular turf has to be cut once a week to maintain its good looks, so that would mean about a 75 percent reduction in mowing.

Look and Feel - This really is a pretty grass. It has a fine texture and although I would not say it is green like your standard turf grasses it is far greener than the Buffalo grass. It passed this test with my wife as well, so the 1000 square feet will be expanding.

Herbicides

I don't recall any specific caveats on applying lawn weed killers to the Buffalo grass, but the Blue Grama grass indicated that combinations of lawn weed killers had been reported to have harmed it in some cases. Most lawn weed killers are combinations, so as recommended, I bought some straight 2,4-D to use on the Blue Grama grass. I applied it twice at the recommended dosage on the 2, 4-D bottle and it eliminated weeds and did not appear to harm the grass.

Blue Grama Grass Wins

Based on my four years trying out Buffalo grass and Blue Grama grass, I am sold on the Blue Grama grass for my environment and preferences. My current plan is to continue replacing my turf grass with Blue Grama and reducing the overall lawn area by installing xeric perennial and native plant gardens.