BP, I've been thinking about your past posts on lawns. I've been wondering about this too. I finally bought some Western Wheatgrass online. Wondering if I should overseed now on top of my KBG, which is dormant right now because it's been so dry, or wait until spring to put down the seed? Maybe I should add some Blue Grama in with it....

If I had it to do over again, I'd probably kill the KBG lawn and start from scratch. However, western wheatgrass is definitely a different look (more of a blue than a green).

I've had the best results when I've dormant seeded. I think fall is just too short here to give grass a good shot at establishing and when I wait for all the snow to be gone, it's too close to summer so spring seeding tends to fail, too.

Western wheatgrass is a cool season grass and blue grama is a warm season grass, but they may do well together. Blue grama greens up sooner than other warm season grasses and western wheatgrass is a little slower than other cool season grasses, so maybe there wouldn't be too much difference between their seasons. In my case, the blue grama season is extended due to the sidewalk and street heating up the soil.

If you're seeding into a KBG lawn and want to keep the KBG lawn and augment it with western wheatgrass, it will take a lot longer to get the western wheatgrass to dominate than it would if you just kill the KBG.

You'll also probably need to overseed more than once.

That's the route I took. Killing the lawn is scary, so I'll assume you're going to overseed.

Here's what I'd do. I'm assuming a dormant seeding. There's no time for western wheatgrass to germinate before winter hits, so that's really your best option if you haven't already seeded.

Start lowering the mower deck. Lower it a notch each cutting until you're cutting at the lowest setting. If the clippings are disappearing, mulch mow, but if not, bag or rake.

If you get a chance, core aerate. That will expose more soil (note that I didn't do this but should have).

At some point, when it's cooled off, but the lawn isn't snow covered, spread the seed. Ideally, do this just before a big snow storm (I was out during a storm last year).

Next year, a distressingly small amount of western wheatgrass will have sprouted. As much as it hurts, tend the lawn for the western wheatgrass. Water in early July, late July and Mid August. Three times all summer. You'll have a lot of dormant grass and some dead grass. But if you water enough to keep the KBG healthy, the WW doesn't stand a chance.

And don't fertilize.

You may decide to want to repeat the process next fall. It takes a few years for native grasses to start spreading, so overseeding a few times will help.

I'll let you know how dormant seeding blue grama works.

This is a very interesting discussion! Do you, or anyone else, have any pictures of what the grama/wheat grass lawn looks like? I love the idea of only having to water 3 times a year!! We have a really large backyard lawn, so that is very appealing.

We have one small section that is Buffalo grass, but we aren't crazy about the way it looks and grows (late to green up and early to brown, it seems). Does the wheatgrass and/or grama look any better?

We've also been talking about breaking it up into smaller lawn sections with paths and some xeric type of plantings separating them.

Blue grama will green up a little earlier in the spring and turn brown a little later in the fall than buffalo grass, but it's still a warm season grass, so it won't be green as long as a cool season grass will.

The blue grama is just a small part of my lawn, little patches (not even a foot square) here and there in the hellstrip. I may have more to show next summer if the dormant seeding works, or next fall if I have to reseed and hand water.

I water three times a summer, but I do have areas that go dormant. I also overseeded into a KBG/Fescue lawn so a lot of the issues with dormancy are due to those grasses. I'm hoping the natives will spread and take over as time goes on.

Actually, I've got some non natives mixed in with natives.

Here are the grasses I've planted and some comments on each:

Western wheatgrass: difficult to get started. Seems to do best with freeze/thaw cycles. It is a bluish green in color. It stays green longer without water than the other grasses, but I've read that it's more likely to die in dormancy. If you water a few times a year, I don't think it'll be a problem. IT develops very deep roots, so make sure you water as deeply as possible. Large seeds (really almost like wheat kernels). Spreads via rhizomes.

Streambank wheatgrass: establishes easier than western wheatgrass. pale green in color, so it's lighter than KBG, but not a bad color for a lawn (IMO, anyway). Very soft and fine bladed. Seeds are about the same size as western wheatgrass. Spreads via rhizomes.

Sheep fescue: fine bladed, closer in color to traditional lawn grasses than the other options. Develops an extensive root system and has many defenses against drought. It will stay alive with no additional water, but will need water to stay green. Even with water, it may go dormant in high heat. Much smaller seeds than streambank and western wheatgrass. A bunch grass, but it spreads a little via tillering (new plants right next to the old ones).

Blue grama: I've only got a little of this, but if I remember correctly, it germinates fairly quickly in the right conditions. It's light green (a lot like streambank wheatgrass) and has very soft blades. It does an amazing job of staying green with very little water. It sticks out from the others in the heat of the summer, because that's when it takes off. I saw a green patch of native wild grama along the roadside near the end of summer (no rain to speak of and no irrigation in that area, so it had been dry for two months). It's a warm season grass, so it's dormant in the winter, but it greens up faster than buffalo grass. seeds are like dust. A bunch grass, but tillers a bit if mowed.

Those are the natives. Now for the non natives.

Crested wheatgrass: easy to establish. It's sort of yellow green the first year, but greens up later. seeds are smaller than sheep fescue seeds but not as small as grama. Fine bladed. Most varieties are bunch grasses, but some varieties (roadcrest and Ephraim are two that I remember) will spread slowly via rhizomes.

Palestine strawberry clover: Very similar to Dutch white clover in looks, but the flower has a little bit of pink or red tint. It isn't quite as drought tolerant as Dutch white, but does better in alkaline soils. There are other varieties of strawberry clover, but my understanding is that the Palestine is the most drought tolerant. Spreads via stolons and flowers. Seeds are round and about the size of radish seeds. Fairly easy to establish. The flowers can attract bees and if you use weed be gone or other broadleaf weed killers, you'll kill the clover. Low growing. Spreads via seeds and stolons.

I thought I had posted pictures, but I can't find them. I'll try to get some posted.

Bp, does your strawberry clover do ok with that 3X watering regime?

That Dutch white starts to turn brown in a couple of weeks of hot and dry w/o water.

The strawberry clover is nice and green everywhere but in part of the hellstrip.