best area for trees (Cottonwood: yard, water, lawn)

[Tim Rankin]

Originally Posted by Hipchik

BTW - we have a patch of buffalo grass for our dogs. Needs very little water and you don'teven have to mow it!

Hipchik, I'm curious as to how buffalo grass does in Boulder Cnty, and how much add'l water it needs [if any]. We used to have it in our backyard in the foothills of Albuquerque [where it needed some supplemental water], so I'm pretty familiar with it overall. Thanks.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by qfrost

So the older areas have the most established trees, which I sort of knew already. But which areas in and around Boulder have more? Could you make a generality and say the further east, the less trees?

The further east in Boulder, maybe, though there aren't a lot of super new neighborhoods in east Boulder, esp. in the SE part. (I am less familiar with the NE part of the town.) The houses south of Arapahoe on the east side are at least 30 years old, for the most part, thus have mature trees in the yards. The "Old Town" areas of Louisville and Lafayette, and even some of the newer parts of those towns, say 25 yrs old and more, have lots of trees. That covers a lot of Louisville. I'm not quite as familiar with Lafayette, but I"d say that covers a large part of that city, as well.

[suzco]

Originally Posted by Tim Rankin

Hipchik, I'm curious as to how buffalo grass does in Boulder Cnty, and how much add'l water it needs [if any]. We used to have it in our backyard in the foothills of Albuquerque [where it needed some supplemental water], so I'm pretty familiar with it overall. Thanks.

I'm not Hipchik, but do have buffalo grass. We haven't used any supplemental water since the first season when we used supplemental water to get it established (that was more than 10 years ago). It has survived just fine without any supplemental water. During very dry years it might look more perky with watering, but we haven't found it to be necessary.

We also don't mow it. If you want an appearance that will be more like a bluegrass lawn, you can mow it, and I suppose use some supplemental water to keep it more lush.

[qfrost]

While we're speaking of trees, thought I'd share one type we have out here currently in bloom - Jacarandas. We have several streets where block after block turn purple and green in early summer. Here are some pics - Purple - a set on Flickr

[Tim Rankin]

Originally Posted by suzco

I'm not Hipchik, but do have buffalo grass. We haven't used any supplemental water since the first season when we used supplemental water to get it established (that was more than 10 years ago). It has survived just fine without any supplemental water. During very dry years it might look more perky with watering, but we haven't found it to be necessary.

We also don't mow it. If you want an appearance that will be more like a bluegrass lawn, you can mow it, and I suppose use some supplemental water to keep it more lush.

Thanks for the info suzco. I love the look of buffalo grass when it's not cut, and also the way it goes dormant and re-greens in the summer. It just looks like it belongs on the prairie...which I guess it does. Glad to hear it doesn't need supplemental water too. There's a chance we may relocate to that area, and if we do, I would prefer a buffalo grass lawn [provided there are no HOA restrictions about dormant, uncut lawns!].

[Trkstp Tina]

In the book "The Worst Hard Time," about the Great Depression Dust Bowl, buffalo grass plays a major role. Because so much buffalo grass was dug up on the prairies and replaced with crops, there was nothing to hold the dirt down when crops failed from drought or farmers were simply too broke to plant any crops. That tearing up of buffalo grass was directly responsible for the dust storms. So it would be nice to see more people embracing buffalo grass!

[delta07]

Originally Posted by Katiana

True, though I don't think Cottonwoods are technically hardwood trees. I knew I should have been more specific when I posted, and said "such as oak and maple".

Cottonwoods are definitely hardwoods. Not sure why you would think they are not technically hardwoods?

[CosmicWizard]

Yesterday, I looked out the window and it appeared to be snowing, so I went outside to see it up close and personal. Turned out to be a mini cotton storm.

[Tim Rankin]

Originally Posted by delta07

Cottonwoods are definitely hardwoods. Not sure why you would think they are not technically hardwoods?

The distinction I remembered was that deciduous trees are hardwoods, while conifers are softwoods. This link bears that out.

Hardwood Tree Identification | Softwood Tree Identification

But within the hardwood family, there are certainly trees with harder or softer wood. Black locust, maple and hickory are all quite hard. Tulip trees on the other hand have rather soft wood. Not sure where cottonwood fits in.

[CosmicWizard]

Cottonwood is a rather soft wood, but it's not fun to split for firewood. On the other hand, oak is a very hard wood, but it usually splits very easily.