As much as 50 per cent of household water is applied to your lawn. The easiest way to cut your water bill then is simply to stop watering your lawn. But to do that you need to use low maintenance grasses.
These are grass species and cultivars that persist with few inputs, require little water, fertilizer or mowing. Instead of being smooth and soft, they tend to be clumpy, lumpy and one does not voluntarily walk barefoot on them. They are usually mowed at three to six inches, somewhat higher than conventional lawn grasses. These grasses work well on farms and acreages where their function is primarily visual. Once established, they require only occasional mowing and almost no irrigation or fertilizer.
There are several species of three main genera to choose from: fescue (Festuca), bluegrass (Poa) and wheatgrass (Agropyron).
Chewings fescue (Festuca rubra var. commutata) has narrow, dark blue green leaves. It can be mixed with creeping red fescue and Kentucky bluegrass in conventional lawns. It spreads by tillering, is shade- and drought-tolerant and adapted to infertile, acid soils. Chewings fescue and creeping red fescue make a good blend, similar in height to a conventional lawn but requires less water, fertilizer and mowing. Recommended cultivars include: Agram, Arctared, Banner, Victory, Longfellow II and Silhouette.
Blue-green in colour, sheep fescue (Festuca ovina) is strongly clumping with good drought tolerance and widely adaptive, from dry to moist soils and from basic to acidic. Recommended cultivars include Nakiska and Azay.
Hard fescue (Festuca ovina var. duriuscula) has a mature height of six to 10 inches, with wider blades and a more greyish-green colour than other fescues. It is slow growing but once established forms a low ground cover that competes well with weeds. Growth slows down during the heat of summer. It is drought- and shade-tolerant. Newer cultivars seem less clumpy and many contain endophytes - naturally built-in biological controls against insects such as sod webworms and chinch bugs. Recommended cultivars include: Aurora, Biljart, Durar, Eureko II, Reliant, Spartan and Spartan II.
Shorter growing (four to 12 inches) and coarser than Kentucky bluegrass, Canada bluegrass (Poa compressa) is blue green and adapted to soils from moist to dry and infertile and from acid to basic. It has a fibrous root system with extensive rhizomes, and a clumpy form. It is tolerant of wear, stress and drought and is disease resistant. Reubens is less clumpy to non-clumpy than the species.
Although drought tolerant, wheatgrasses show a strong clumping habit and are less dense than other grasses. Crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum) is a clumping bunch grass with excellent drought tolerance. The species seeds readily and may become invasive once established, particularly if planted near or among native grass species. Fairway crested wheatgrass is one of the best grasses for non-irrigated lawns.
Northern wheatgrass (A. dasystachyum), a native species, is relatively low growing at eight to 12 inches. With a strong spreading habit and extensive rhizomes, it establishes quickly and is well adapted to slopes, banks and sandy soils. Greyish green in colour, it has a clumpy appearance. Elbee has excellent drought tolerance.
Streambank wheatgrass (A. riparium) is a dryland species used in pure stands or in mixtures with small amounts of Kentucky bluegrass. It is a low-growing, sod-forming grass, with narrow leaves and stems 12 to 30 inches high. It has vigorous rhizomes, is long-lived and colonizes both by seed and its spreading root system. It flourishes on well-drained soils, withstands mowing and is highly competitive with weeds under dry land conditions. Long recommended for farm lawns, it establishes quickly with good germination and seedling vigour.
The seeding rates for the above in pure stands are 3.5-4.5 lb/1000 sq. ft for the fescues, 1-2 lb/1000 sq. ft for the bluegrass and 3-5 lb/1000 sq. ft for the wheatgrasses.
- Sara Williams is the author of the revised and updated Creating the Prairie Xeriscape, Coteau Books, February, 2013. This column is provided courtesy of the Saskatchewan Perennial Society (www.saskperennial.ca; email: [email protected]).
