Waterwise, Low Mow Turf Grasses from Plugs

by High Country Gardens

We Americans love our lawns.  But more and more homeowners are looking to reduce the time they spend maintaining their patch of grass and spending less for water and maintenance.  Fortunately there has been a lot of research done over the past few decades with all these goals in mind.

‘Legacy’ Buffalo grass is an excellent solution when it comes to less frequent mowing and reduced water usage for irrigation. Developed by agronomists at the University of Nebraska, ‘Legacy’ buffalo grass is a greatly improved selection of this awesome native grass species.‘Legacy’ is a female plant (buffalo grass has separate male and female plants) that grows to half the height of  pasture type buffalo grass that has been used for lawns.  So ‘Legacy’ is an ideal lawn grass for those who suffer from grass pollen allergies. And because it is a naturally dwarf variety, it needs much less frequent mowing than the usual weekly schedule for most lawns.

‘Legacy’ cannot be grown from seed and is propagated vegetatively by rooting stolons (little stem pieces) in plug trays.  By planting the individual plugs on one foot by one foot centers this vigorous, dense growing grass will grow together and make a lush lawn in about 3 months from a late spring/early summer planting. ‘Legacy’ is long lived and will provide a beautiful, low care, low water lawn for many, many years.

Another fabulous new dwarf turf grass planted from plugs is Bella Bluegrass.  This variety is so low growing it never needs mowing (unless you like your lawn cut really short) making it an excellent choice for small, tight, hard-to-mow spaces.  Its roots go down an amazing 2 to 3 feet into the soil making it much more water-thrifty than normal bluegrass type turf grasses.  Bella is also very shade tolerant and is recommended for both sun and shade growing conditions. Like ‘Legacy’ buffalo grass, it is grown by rooting pieces into plug trays. Bella should be spaced on six inch by six inch centers to fill in completely during its first growing season.

Shop Our Collection of Buffalo Grass Plugs Here >>. To find the Buffalo Grass best suited for your area, please view our maps below:

Text and Photos by Founder and Chief Horticulturist David Salman.

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