Native Plants
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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
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Wednesday - March 03, 2010
From: Utopia, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Grasses or Grass-like
Title: Native grasses for Uvalde Co., Texas
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
I plan on seeding a new yard in the Utopia area in central Texas with a combination of Texas native grasses (Buffalograss, Blue Grama & Curly Mesquite). When can I broadcast the seeds..how warm should it be? ThanksANSWER:
Happily, we have some How-To Articles written by people that know more about these things than we do. The best one for your purposes is Native Lawns. That article deals with all three of the grasses you are considering, and refers you to some seed sources. Please note that these are all full sun grasses (6 or more hours of sun a day), and that they will need defense from weeds (pull them out) until the grasses are well established. Follow these links to our page on each grass for more information:
Bouteloua dactyloides (buffalograss)
Bouteloua gracilis (blue grama)
Hilaria belangeri (curly-mesquite) - pictures from Google
Native American Seeds has an online catalog in which, under "Grass Mixes," you will find a Native Sun Turf Mix that is 66% buffalograss and 34% blue grama. Some of our webpages have information saying that curly mesquite is not yet commercially available, but in the same Native American Seeds Online Catalog, there are curly mesquite seeds available in d-paks.
From our Native Plant Image Gallery:
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