Find a place for native grasses in the landscape

By G. Owen Yost

.A clump of native grasses (sometimes called "ornamental grasses") is hugely attractive. Plus, it can dramatically cut the time you spend maintaining your yard and it?s incredibly water-efficient.

A "clump" could include prairie grasses such as bluestem, gramma, buffalograss, muhly and indiangrass. Conversely, common lawn grasses like bermuda and St. Augustine are temperamental, can turn brown, dormant and unkempt when our weather is too hot, dry or cold.

I want to be clear: These native grasses are not for typical "lawns" ? they were what greeted the early settlers when they followed the trail, encountered a few Indians and Mexicans, and started to call this area, and its native grasses, home. (Remember the "amber waves of grain"?)

Depending on the species, native grasses grow to a foot tall or 10 feet tall, or anywhere in between. Their roots descend to incredible depths (mature buffalograss roots can be 8 to 10 feet deep) making them very drought-tolerant, disease-resistant and durable.

An established stand of native grasses doesn?t require regular watering (only in emergencies), and rarely, if ever, needs to be cut. Artificial fertilizer can actually damage native grasses, since they have adapted to our poor, hard soils over the centuries.

On the other hand, traditional lawn grasses like bermuda and St. Augustine aren?t found here naturally. Besides, they require frequent and expensive pampering in the form of fertilization, watering, mowing, weeding and so on. They normally die unless given large doses of insecticide, herbicide, water, fertilizer and such. Often, they?ll turn brown anyway.

Planting native grasses is embarrassingly easy. Simply select a sunny, well-drained spot and plant (or transplant) the grass plants exactly like any other new plant. Don?t forget the mulch! You won?t see a lot of above-ground growth during the first six or eight months, but the roots will be growing like crazy.

Fields of little bluestem or switchgrass produce a subtle orange all winter long, and a few dozen plants will become a solid mass in just a few seasons. Even my favorite shade-loving grass, inland sea oats, turns a compelling beige for the winter. In the growing season, inland sea oats is a brilliant green, with a feathery "tuft" (actually next year?s seeds) each fall. I like to use it in informal masses at the base of trees, since that?s where it grows naturally.

Only a few nurseries have these native grasses in stock this time of year. But ask them if they?ll order some for you. Or you can get them through a catalog (be careful to get a type that grows in this part of Texas). Another option is to actually dig them from a field, providing the owner agrees.

Native grasses can be used in the residential landscape in a variety of ways, such as a backdrop for colorful flowers or as an ever-changing mass or unique specimen. In winter, a colorful splash of native grass makes the dark green of our evergreen trees and shrubs come to life.

At minimum, try a mass or two in corners of your yard. I?ll wager that, as the years go by, you?ll be planting more and more native grasses and cutting back on the costly, temperamental plants you?re used to.

Owen Yost is an area landscape architect specializing in designing low-maintenance landscapes while incorporating native plants with hardscape. He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Keep Denton Beautiful and the Native Plant Society of Texas. His Denton office is at 4516 Coyote Point; call 940-382-2099 or 940-383-9655 or e-mail him at Yost87@charter.net