Native Plants
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Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
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Saturday - June 25, 2011
From: Castroville, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Compost and Mulch, Turf, Grasses or Grass-like
Title: Native grass lawn for San Antonio
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
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 putting approximately 6 inches of screened top soil but was concerned that this poor soil would not support the grass well and I would be forever applying compost or other nutrients to keep the grass healthy. Thank you.ANSWER:
Native turfgrass lawns require minimum or no fertilizer, minimum water and minimum mowing. Please read our article, Native Lawns. Please also check our How to Articles—Native Lawns: Multi-species and Native Lawns: Buffalograss. These articles give you information about how to prepare your soil and how to plant and maintain a native turfgrass lawn. The main thing you need to know about these turf grasses—Bouteloua dactyloides (Buffalograss), Bouteloua gracilis (Blue grama) and Hilaria belangeri (Curly mesquite grass) is that they won't do well unless your site has at least 6 hours of sunshine per day. If you have a shady lawn, then you need to think about some other type of lawn. You can read the answer to a recent question Mr. Smarty Plants received asking about native grass for a shady lawn. Additionally, although their seeds should still germinate and grow, it is going to require a reasonable amount of water until they are well-established. Once they are established, however, these grasses will require little or no fertilizer, little water and infrequent mowing. Native American Seed in Junction has turfgrass seed mixes—Thunder Turf with buffalograss, blue grama, and curly mesquite and Native Sun Turfgrass with ony buffalograss and blue grama. They also sell the grass seeds of each species individually and they have some excellent advice on their Planting Tips, Resources and More page.
From the Image Gallery
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October 27, 2012 - Hello Mr. Smarty Plants
We just bought 4.5 acres in Travis County off HWY 290. We have 3 horses we keep on it but there is very little grass in the pastures. What is the best type of grass to seed ...
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Identification of grasses for grazing from La Luz NM
November 05, 2012 - I live in southern New Mexico. I have pictures of a few types of grass that I can't find anyone to help me identify with a name for livestock food. Can you help me with it? If so I can send the pi...
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