Native Plants
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Friday - March 27, 2015
From: Fullerton, CA
Region: California
Topic: Turf, Grasses or Grass-like
Title: Substitute for Habiturf in Fullerton, CA
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
Will habiturf grow/thrive in 92835 zip code? I think Im on 10a or 10b hardiness. I have clay soil. ThanksANSWER:
Habiturf™ was developed for Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and some areas of Arizona. It would not thrive in Fullerton, California. However, UC Davis has developed a buffalograss called UC Verde Buffalograss that is geared towards California soils and climate. In some areas of California it thrives quite well. You can see photos of UC Verde Buffalograss lawns growing in several Southern California cities on the website. It requires plenty of sunshine to do well—it does NOT thrive in the shade. The UC Verde Buffalograss webpage has instructions for preparing your site for a new lawn.
The City of Santa Barbara has an article, Water Wise Lawn Alternatives, that has three possibilities for grasses/grass-like plants that will grow in the Fullerton area:
- Agrostis pallens (California Bent Grass) Here is more information from University of California Cooperative Extension Sacramento County.
- Bouteloua gracilis (Blue grama) Here is more information from Las Pilitas Nursery in Santa Margarita and Escondido.
- Carex pansa (Sanddune sedge) Here is more information from Bay Natives in San Francisco.
- Carex praegracilis (Clustered field sedge) Here is more information from Pacific Horticulture.
You might find other articles on the City of Santa Barbara's Water Wise Landscaping page interesting, as well.
More Turf Questions
Low maintenance native plants for sloping lawn in Maine
June 07, 2005 - Hello, we live in Maine and have clay-ey soil with a lot of sun. I suspect the soil is acidic as well. We would like to replace at least part of our small front lawn with native ground cover or gras...
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Pine bark on non-native St. Augustine grass in Kingwood TX
May 12, 2010 - I had two large Pine trees cut down. In the process of cutting the trees down there is a lot of pine bark from the tree on my St Augustine grass. Will this affect the growth of my grass?
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Replacing non-native lawn grasses in an HOA in Kyle TX
March 27, 2009 - We just rounded out our first year with our first lawn here in Central Texas. I was stingy with the water and needless to say our non-native, Bermuda grass and St. Augustine lawn did not fare well. Id...
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Native grass lawn for San Antonio
June 25, 2011 - Dear Mr Smartyplants, I live outside of San Antonio and my question is in regards to putting in a native grass lawn. What type of soil should I put down? I've sprayed herbicide and was planning on ...
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Looking for a native turf grass for the Houston area
July 25, 2013 - Looking for a native turf grass for the Houston area. In some of your 2012 responses, you stated that "The good news is that research into turf-type grasses native to the coastal region is in the pla...
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