Would love to hear about your experiences with a native-grass yard!

The disadvantages to planting them is that they can't easily be planted from sod or seed, so it is expensive to plant them out from plugs, or dividing 4 inch containers to extend the plantings. I have planted both types this way with approximately 3 inch on center spacing, and it can take a good 6 months for Carex pansa to fill in, and slightly less for Carex tumilicola. C. tumulicola is also easier to plant from seed, as it forms seed readily and is easy to germinate. Carex pansa on the other hand is shy to set seed, but does form runners which give a thicker turf over time. Initially either Carex will look like a rice paddy at first, and will require weeding to keep weeds out, which is more of a problem in exposed areas than a contained back yard with no weeds.

I have two more Carex lawns I will be installing later this summer; one new and one to replace an existing lawn. For both this time around, I have collected C. tumilicola seed now, for sowing out into flats for later transplanting. Alot more work than sodding a lawn, but I will never have to resod either in spring to replace the worn out thin sod which was too shaded in winter, and will not have to worry about water rationing meaning a dead lawn, as Carex tumilicola can easily go 2 months once established without any water in coastal northern California conditions.

I would probably go with Carex pansa if it were more readily available in large quantities, as it is a dwarfer growing Carex that also fills in as a solid turf better than C. tumulicola, but both look great if regularly mowed at least once every 3 to 4 weeks if you like a more manicured look.

It sounds like you've had good experiences with both Carex pansa and Carex tumilicola. Do any of the lawns you have planted get regular traffic? We are not planning on hosting weekly soccer games (for one thing, not enough space!) but it would be nice if we could walk on it without worrying about it.

There is a note about Carex pansa on the Las Pilitas Nursery site, which dissuades people from considering native grasses for lawns--in part because of traffic concerns. Your thoughts?

In summary, it may be safest to use C. tumulicola if you don't mind mowing more often, and both Carexes I have used handle light regular foot traffic, (two adults crossing the C. pansa hybrid lawn to use the hot tub daily), with no problems. I haven't put the hybrid C. pansa lawn to a drought test yet, as it is on automatic irrigation with clay loam soil, and I wanted it to fill in as quickly as possible, which it has just about done after 5 months being planted out in mid February, and planted on 3 inch centers.

Mom gave me a clump of it early last year, and a gopher dug it up...but not before it must have reseeded. I now have several small clumps growing in the vicinity, which never gets water or any attention. To me, it's a beautiful sedge, and I really like the way it grows and blooms.

Brenda

The package says it will grow in sun and light shade, has an excellent mowed appearance and stands up to moderate traffic. Also says "the native grasses in this mixture are the same as those used in the native meadow lawn at the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden" which I haven't seen.

Any advice?

It's an extraordinary meadow and as a meadow, I'm sure it would be quite the front landscape for a residential landscape.

Those are some pretty tough/durable bunching grasses listed. I'm sure they'd hold up to traffic but I've never seen them mowed.

As bahia says, the big drawback to the Carex is that they are not inexpensive to install.

Give it a shot and report back here.

May I suggest, though, that you sow the seed in October, or later.

Joe

And agreed, best to wait for the rains -- I'm just planning ahead. With a kid and a big dog, we'd like grass that can stand up to foot traffic and not require much water or maintenance -- water in the garden goes for the edibles. Since it will be in the back we don't mind a meadowy, rural sort of look -- we're not seeking a uniform, green carpet kinda lawn.

Will definitely go by the SBBG to see the meadow. Would be nice to see native grasses that were mown too, for comparison. I'll just keep my eyes peeled...

You live in San Luis Obispo, yes?

Joe

bahia:
C. tumulicola sounds great. After reading a bit about it online this evening, I found on the San Marcos Growers website that it was mis-keyed and is actually C. divulsa. So it's not a CA native but rather from Europe (though the common name is still Berkeley Sedge). Here's a link with more details: http://www.smgrowers.com/products/plants/plantdisplay.asp?plant_id=352 Is this the same one you've planted? And would you recommend this for us since our back property line is a creek? If it's polite I'd be fine with it but with all the invasive plants I continue to battle along the creek -- ivy, vinca, morning glory and a monster sedge -- I'm especially leery of non-natives. If it could be considered at all invasive, I don't want to spread the problem downstream. It wouldn't be planted directly along the creek but very close -- within 10-15 feet of the top of the bank.

queerbychoice:
Also according to San Marcos Growers, C. praegracilis was originally mis-keyed as C. pansa, which is the other Carex that bahia mentioned in an earlier post. Here's the link on that: http://www.smgrowers.com/products/plants/plantdisplay.asp?plant_id=2370 Glad to hear that it stands up to a certain amount of abuse from your big dogs.

Who knew IDing grasses was so confusing! Anyway, sounds like either of these will work well for us, especially as we have some of the same conditions bahia mentioned -- clay soil, shade, and wet in winter.

He has been working with ornamental grasses in California for a long long time. He also is very concerned about invasiveness and will let you know if he has found a plant to be invasive or not. They generally don't propagate anything that is seriously invasive. He also has the latest and greatest meadow/prairie plants offered. Even if he doesn't update his website often enough.

From my personal experience with both C. pansa and C. praegacilis, they both prefer a more loamy, fast draining soil mix rather than a heavy clay loam, and they can even rot out in winter if planted in heavy clay and no direct sun, again, this is from personal experience. Neither of these Carex species is as well adapted to shade/deep shade as is C. tumulicola, which is tolerant of full dry hot sun to deep shade, and looks equally good in both conditions.