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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Thursday - July 18, 2013
From: Bucks County, PA
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Grasses or Grass-like
Title: Grasses for Pennsylvania
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
What type of grass does the best in my area?ANSWER:
Assuming you want information about lawn grasses, the article, Turf Grass Species for Pennsylvania from Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences is an excellent source of information for lawn grasses in your area. It is obvious that they have done lots of research and provide detailed information about hardiness, diseases, fertilizing and much more for several lawn grass species. Many of the species they talk about are introduced species but they do list a couple of native grasses. It should be noted that those two native grasses also have introduced varieities. Since our mission here at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is "to increase the sustainable use and conservation of native wildflowers, plants and landscapes," I won't be recommending that you plant non-native grasses. That doesn't mean that the introduced species are necessarily bad—it just means we hope you will consider planting native species. The two native species recommended in the article from Penn State are:
- Poa pratensis (Kentucky bluegrass) Here is more information from Missouri Botanical Garden.
- Festuca rubra (Red fescue) Here is more information from Missouri Botanical Garden.
Here are some very wise tips from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for maintaining your lawn no matter what grass you decide to use.
If you are looking for grasses for meadows or fields or for ornamentals in your garden, you can go to our Native Plants Database and select "Poaceae (Grass Family)" by scrolling down the list in the Family: slot. This will give you a list of all grasses in our Native Plant Database, but you can use the NARROW YOUR SEARCH option to limit the list to Pennsylvania grasses by selecting your state from the Select State of Province slot. You will then have a list of 164 grasses native to Pennsylvania that you can scroll through, many with photos. You can use other criteria (e.g., Light Requirement, Soil Moisture, Height) to narrow this list even further.
More Grasses or Grass-like Questions
Bunch grasses for labyrinth that are good for livestock
September 29, 2013 - Dear Mr. Smarty Plants,
I'm designing an outdoor labyrinth that will be in full sun in our black Slidell clay soil here in north central Texas. The area MAY be mowed for hay at a later date (i.e...
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How much water does St. Augustine require in Junction, TX?
February 12, 2012 - Can you point me towards a concrete study on how much water St Augustine requires to survive? Much appreciated - Native American Seed
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Plants for a creek bank in Northern Illinois
March 26, 2009 - Hello.
I live in Northern Illinois. The creek (northern exposure in a wooded area) on the back of my property has bare muddy banks and is subject to seasonal floods. I want to plant something hardy t...
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Ground cover to control erosion in Montgomery County, Texas
February 24, 2014 - I am looking for some kind of ground cover to control erosion on a north facing slope in Montgomery County, Texas. The area gets very little direct sunlight. I need something that will establish quick...
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Erosion Control for Salem IN
September 02, 2014 - We've recently had a new pond dug. It is on a hill side and has some very steep and tall banks. We were advised that our best chance of keeping soil from eroding was to plant fescue. I'm not thrille...
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