Native Plants
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Wednesday - July 01, 2015
From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Turf, Grasses or Grass-like
Title: Best grass for the shade in Austin, TX.
Answered by: Joe Marcus
QUESTION:
What is the best grass seed for shade in Austin?ANSWER:
Although you did not specify in your question, we are supposing you're asking about the best turf grass for shady situations for Austin, TX. If not, then we can highly recommend Inland Sea Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium) for shady locations, although it can become a bit aggressive for some situations.
If, as we suspect, you're asking about lawn grasses then we must first say that the focus of our research and the extent of our expertise is limited to North American native plant species. Thus, turf grasses typically found in the Austin area such as Bermudagrass, St. Augustine Grass and Zoysia Grass are outside our area of study and we cannot recommend them. However, St. Augustine Grass, a heavy water-user, is most often used in shady situations in your area. Unfortunately, none of the native grasses that can be used in lawns, such as Buffalograss (Bouteloua dactyloides), Blue Grama (Bouteloua gracilis) and Curly Mesquite (Hilaria belangeri) are suitable for shady areas.
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Seeding an established buffalograss lawn to make it denser
May 13, 2010 - We have 5400 sq ft of existing Buffalo grass and would like to know if spreading Buffalo grass SEED would help the existing get more full? I can't seem to find the seed here or the Austin area? And, ...
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Chigger Control in Habiturf from Plano, TX
April 08, 2015 - We converted our back yard in Plano, Texas to Habiturf last spring/summer and have a nice lawn; however, for the first time since we have lived in this house for 32 years, the lawn was full of chigger...
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Native grass lawn for San Antonio
June 25, 2011 - Dear Mr Smartyplants, I live outside of San Antonio and my question is in regards to putting in a native grass lawn. What type of soil should I put down? I've sprayed herbicide and was planning on ...
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