Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
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Sunday - November 23, 2008
From: Georgetown, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Turf
Title: Watering schedule for sod lawn
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
We just moved to Georgetown, TX, where we have a 2-month old sod lawn (NOT Zoysia) that appears to becoming fairly well-established. We want to conserve water for environmental and financial reasons. Now we water once every other day. What is the proper watering schedule, as we understand that the lawn will go dormant soon?ANSWER:
There are several factors that need to be considered to answer your question. First, you say your lawn is NOT zoysia, but you don't say what it is. The type of grass on your lawn definitely affects the amount of water needed. How much you need to water also depends, of course, on whether there is regular rainfall. The time of year matters, too, since you will need to water more in the spring and summer when the grass is growing than in the fall and winter when it goes dormant. In fact, the City of Austin's Grow Green Earth-wise Guide to Lawn Care advises that: "Watering is seldom necessary during the dormant season (December-February)." Since your lawn is just barely established, you might want to water it occasionally during the winter—unless we miraculously begin to get our normal rainfall. You can find other excellent information for irrigating and maintaining your lawn in the publication from the City of Austin and you can find "Grass Species (Adapted Region) How Often to Water", comparing several turf grasses, on the Landscape Texas webpage.More Turf Questions
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March 17, 2008 - Hi,
I live in Cedar Park, TX - recently moved to into a newly built house. I wanted to put some native grass (like buffalo) in the back yard.
- My back yard has slope (away from house) and front...
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Groundcover for Laredo Texas
July 04, 2011 - I am in Laredo, TX and no longer want to waste water on grass. I would like to pull it all out and plant native, drought resistant ground cover - low growing, between 6-12 inches, sun and partial sha...
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October 20, 2009 - Where would I buy native lawn grass for South Texas? Would it be sod or seed?
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Removal of Western yarrow invading lawn
July 23, 2006 - We have western yarrow in our yard and it is starting to take over and kill the grass. How do we get rid of it?
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Why are there no low-mow lawn grasses composed of only native fescues?
September 09, 2014 - Dear SP, Most blends of ecograss I see are a combination of non-native and native fescues (and sometimes buffalo grass, blue grama, etc.). Why are there (apparently) none that are composed entirely of...
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