If I had seen the lawn first, I probably would not have watered. It's a little stressed, but still mostly green.

I didn't take pictures because there really isn't much difference from the pictures I posted before.

There's a state holiday on July 24 that allows fireworks, so I'll water that weekend. I may try to get by only watering once in August.

In areas where the KBG has gone dormant, the natives are definitely starting to dominate. I'll be happy if I can keep my lawn green if I water just three times a year. Next year, the native grasses should have deeper root systems, so maybe I'll be able to keep it green if I water twice.

thanks for the early summer update. of the wheatgrasses and grama, any favorites? take it the back has some shade, how's the fescue mix doing?

(the clover I planted, seems to have a seperate schedule than the the grass, doesn't even look like it knows it's summer.)

I don't have much grama. I like the way it looks, but it's a warm season grass, so it would be dormant too long here.

I like the color of the streambank wheatgrass and the sheep fescue best, but the western wheatgrass seems to do a better job at staying green longer. However, both streambank wheatgrass and sheep fescue are more drought tolerant than western wheatgrass from what I've read. They'll survive a longer drought with no water by spending more time dormant. The western wheatgrass takes longer to go dormant, but is more likely to die if it does go dormant (sort of like KBG vs tall fescue).

I should probably update my sig. I think the red fescue all died and I now have all of the grasses in both front and back. The back does have more shade, so the sheep fescue does better there than the front, but it's still prone to go dormant in the heat (it's not the lack of water that does it in, but the heat).

Dutch White clover is very drought tolerant. The strawberry clover I've got is not quite as good, but does better in alkaline soils.

clay&crabgrass wrote:funny, you look up wheatgrass and etc. and if there's any pictures, it's pictures of out in the prairie somewhere.
your pictures look like a lawn.

This is why I've been harassing BP to post pictures. I've seen his lawn on other forums in the past and was as amazed as y'all are right now. Before I saw his pictures I had an image of roadside scrabble, but it really is a lawn!

I'm hoping to wait until the 24th to water again. I'll try to post some pics again then, when it should be at about the low point. Or maybe the low point will come in August just before I water for the third (and probably last) time of the summer.

Our last measurable rainfall was 6/16 for 12/100 inch of water. I watered on July 3 to make sure errant fireworks didn't ignite the lawn. Nothing since.

The lawn is now definitely showing signs of stress. Some areas are dormant, especially in the hellstrips and the areas that are still mostly KBG. It's interesting (and encouraging) to see areas that are mostly KBG that are mostly brown, but just green enough that I think my neighbors won't start complaining. What's encouraging is that the green in those areas can be attributed to the natives. Since most of them spread, they should fill in while the KBG is sleeping (or dying as the case may be).

There's enough green that I'm going to wait until next weekend to water (the rain that had been forecast for 7/22 is no longer in the forecast). I'll probably water again in August.

when considering native grasses, check the weather

Salt Lake City average annual rainfall is 15.7 inches per year
Salt Lake City average annual snowfall is 64 inches per year.
The average winter temperature is 36.4 degrees F.
The average summer temperature is 92.2 degrees F.

here in STL

Annual Precipitation: 38.84 Inches (eh, 2" of snow?)
Temperature Temperature
Average January High. 37.8
Average January Low 21.2
Average July High 90.5 (humidity +50%, feels like temp.=111F.)
Average July Low 70.9

rainfall numbers tell the story. I would need to shop for more wet tolerant grass, hehehehehe, also more steam tolerant.

clay&crabgrass wrote:when considering native grasses, check the weather

Salt Lake City average annual rainfall is 15.7 inches per year
Salt Lake City average annual snowfall is 64 inches per year.
The average winter temperature is 36.4 degrees F.
The average summer temperature is 92.2 degrees F.

here in STL

Annual Precipitation: 38.84 Inches (eh, 2" of snow?)
Temperature Temperature
Average January High. 37.8
Average January Low 21.2
Average July High 90.5 (humidity +50%, feels like temp.=111F.)
Average July Low 70.9

rainfall numbers tell the story. I would need to shop for more wet tolerant grass, hehehehehe, also more steam tolerant.

Absolutely. Several of the grasses I've got would die in St Louis. Maybe the western wheatgrass and/or the sheep fescue would live, but the others would probably last less than a season. They can tolerate short periods of a lot of water (good thing, since we get nearly all of our water as snow and early spring rain, so the soil is saturated in the spring). But they'll die if they get too much water. In fact, when I was first looking into this, I read a comment somewhere that anybody who tried a certain grass (I think it was crested wheatgrass) could go back to KBG if they wanted just by overseeding and watering to favor the KBG. The crested wheatgrass would all die out due to the water.

I took pictures earlier today to show the lawn at its worst. I'll upload them as soon as I remember where I put the camera.

I should have taken the picture before I mowed. The native grass in the dormant KBG showed up better then.

This is a picture of a mixture of dormant KBG and western wheatgrass. The picture isn't showing it well, but the wheatgrass is a definite blue mixed with the brown KBG.


This is a picture of an area that is mostly dormant.


This is a mixture of streambank wheatgrass and strawberry clover with clumps of K31. The wheatgrass is greener than it looks in the picture, but it's definitely a lighter shade of green than the K31.


This is another area where the blue and green of the native grasses aren't showing up very well among the dormant KBG. It looks a lot greener in real life (although not as dark as KBG or tall fescue). I think most of the grass in this area is either sheep fescue or crested wheatgrass, with some western wheatgrass (but not much). The dark green clumps are K31 tall fescue. I don't much care for that grass, but it's definitely hardy.