Drought-tolerant lawn for Central Texas?! (Buffalo: rental, house, landscaping)

[ATXIronHorse]

I need a zero maintenance grass. Can bermudagrass or buffalograss or any other survive on natural rainfall alone? Thanks!

I tried planting white dutch clover, which is supposedly zero maintenance. I planted in March & April, had it well established through several weeks of watering and it was looking great, yet as soon as I turned the water off it fried. So sad...

Any guidance would be very helpful!

[jobert]

with a fully shaded lawn, zoysia thrives without water, in the open sun without water, zoysia turns tan and dormant. Buffalo is your best bet, but there is an inverse relationship between the drought tolerance, and wear resistance with buffalo grass. If you don't walk on it, it looks great, if you want to play ball with the kids on it everyday, it could turn into a dust bowl. That's why Buffalo is used in landscaping, they don't anticipated people walking onit, but when they do, the paths are well-worn. Bermuda is more resistant to wear, but you will have to water it. btw, establishing grass during this time of year I would not recommend - it's an uphill battle. I would wait til fall for any significant planting.

[ATXIronHorse]

Originally Posted by jobert

with a fully shaded lawn, zoysia thrives without water, in the open sun without water, zoysia turns tan and dormant. Buffalo is your best bet, but there is an inverse relationship between the drought tolerance, and wear resistance with buffalo grass. If you don't walk on it, it looks great, if you want to play ball with the kids on it everyday, it could turn into a dust bowl. That's why Buffalo is used in landscaping, they don't anticipated people walking onit, but when they do, the paths are well-worn. Bermuda is more resistant to wear, but you will have to water it. btw, establishing grass during this time of year I would not recommend - it's an uphill battle. I would wait til fall for any significant planting.

Thanks Jobert. Buffalo may be the way to go. I'll go with sod if I can find it!

Thank you!

[chickenfry]

turfalo developed by the aggies. it takes no water and unlike real buffalo, it grows well in the shade and sun

[TexasHorseLady]

We planted zoysia at our house in town years ago, then we moved to the country and that house became a rental house, and many of the tenants were less than solicitous of the lawn's welfare. Then, the house sat empty for a few months while we were doing some work to it, and being 45 miles away from our current home, it didn't get watered regularly, in a drought. When we watered it again, every other kind of grass was dead, dead, dead, but the zoysia sprang back instantly - it had even spread to places it had not been before.

It's also nice and soft to walk on. I love zoysia, and highly recommend it.

[reverse]

Honestly, this is what you need. Greenscapes by FieldTurf :: Artificial Lawn :: Green Landscaping

[jobert]

good choice THL. We have it too, but it's expensive though. It was about $200 a pallet for about 5 pallets that covered abut 2500 sf (and we had to lay it ourselves). It's "golf course fairway" grass, and it comes in about a dozen different varieties ranging from lime green to almost blue with different drought resistant qualities, wear resistance, etc. If you want a taylor made lawn (pun intended), the options for zoysia are unparalleled.

[TexasHorseLady]

It might be expensive initially, but given that we put it down probably 15 years ago and it's still going strong while the other things we experimented with turned toes up long ago, perhaps not.

We laid ours ourselves, too. Actually, I made a big pot of gumbo and chilled some beers and the neighbors came over and we had a grass laying party. Worked great!

[ROY DUBOSE]

try green paint

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by ROY DUBOSE

try green paint

That would probably count as impervious cover and be prohibited by the COA.