Native Plants

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Monday - February 16, 2015

From: Bastrop, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Planting, Soils, Turf, Grasses or Grass-like
Title: Turf grass for a sandy site in central Texas
Answered by: Guy Thompson

QUESTION:

I want to plant grass over an old sand volleyball court in our back yard in Bastrop, Texas. What is the best way to go? Adding top soil and buffalo grass seed or try St. Augustine?

ANSWER:

You could plant Buffalo grass, but the Wildflower Center recommends a mixture of three grass species sold as Habiturf. The web site describes how the site should be prepared and the seeds planted. I think you should remove most of the sand if it is still present in abundance.

From what you write I assume that the site is in nearly full sun. That is good for Habiturf. Habiturf and most other turf grasses will not thrive in shade. St. Augustine will grow well in light shade, but we don't recommend it because it requires a lot of water. If you have more than two or three hours of shade daily a ground cover of bunch grasses or non-grass ground covers should be considered.

One grass that I grow in shade as a ground cover is Paspalum setaceum (Thin paspalum). It grows only a few inches high and the rather unattractive foot-tall seed heads can be controlled by mowing. If you can accept taller species, consider the following suggestions, taken from a previous Mr. Smarty Plants answer:

Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama), the State Grass of Texas, 2-3 feet

Bouteloua hirsuta (hairy grama), 10-18 inches

Chasmanthium latifolium (Inland sea oats), 2-4 feet, a particularly attractive plant

Elymus canadensis (Canada wildrye), 2-4 feet

Poa arachnifera (Texas bluegrass), 2-3 feet

Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem), 2-4 feet

You might also consider using sedges. They make very good groundcovers and they tend to be rather short. You can read about their use for lawns at a web site on How to Plant a Sedge Lawn.

Carex blanda (eastern woodland sedge), 1-3 feet

Carex cherokeensis (Cherokee sedge), 12-18 inches

Carex planostachys (cedar sedge), less than 12 inches

Carex texensis (Texas sedge), 10-12 inches

Finally, here are groundcovers that aren't grasses or grass-like, are less than 18 inches high and will grow in the shade or part shade.

Calyptocarpus vialis (straggler daisy)

Phyla nodiflora (turkey tangle fogfruit)

Geum canadense (white avens)

Seeds for many of these plants may be obtained at your local plant nurseries. Native American Seed is a particularly good source.