Q: What are the advantages of planting turf grass on your roof?

A: There are many economical and environmental advantages to planting a “living” or “green” roof. Green roofs planted with turf grass provide insulation that saves on energy use and heating and cooling bills. Green roofs also reduce storm water runoff, create wildlife habitats and are an important solution to combating the heat island effect in urban areas. Additionally, green roofs typically last longer than conventional roofs and can add value to your property.

Q: What are the maintenance requirements?

A: Your green roof requires the same maintenance as required for traditional lawns: proper irrigation, mowing, and weed control.

Q: Geographically, where does this work best in the U.S.?

A: Theoretically, turf grass roofs can work anywhere. Environmentally, turf grass works well in areas that receive adequate rainfall, such as the Pacific Northwest. Other materials, such as sedum or wildflowers, can be used more effectively in areas with limited natural water supply.

Q: Is this used in residential structures or just commercial and municipal buildings?

A: Green roofs can be used successfully on residential or commercial buildings and work best on buildings and homes with relatively flat roofs. The soil and maintenance requirements of green roofs made from turf grass make them better suited for larger commercial buildings.

Q: Are there any disadvantages or specific things to consider about the structure of the building/house?

A: Though green roofs can weigh less than conventional roofing material, you’ll want to make sure your building can support the weight of the soil and plant material. You should also research building codes in your area to review local regulations regarding installing green roofs.

Creating a Flower Bed

Map out how you want your new garden to look. To kill the grass in the area where you want to add a flower bed, cover the area with four to six sheets of newspaper (also great in your compost), then cover it with a layer of steer manure. It will naturally decompose over the winter. The plot is then ready for spring plantings or an herb garden.

Adding a Path

A great way to delineate areas, especially in your backyard, is by adding a path. You can do it inexpensively by using pavers, gravel, or decomposed granite. By adding a path, you may create areas of your backyard much like an outside room. The path can meander by your new flower bed and lead to a barbecue or sitting area.

Front Lawn That Stands Out

Instead of having just another rectangular front lawn, add a path that leads to a bench or swing under a shade tree. Line the path with blue fescue to vary your grasses and add some height to an otherwise flat front lawn. You can still keep your beautiful bermuda or luscious rye, but now you have accented its beauty. Creating spaces in your front lawn helps welcome visitors with a resort feel. Isn’t that a nice thing to come home to?

Too Late to Plant?

If you live in a colder area of the country, you might be thinking it’s too late to plant winter rye right now. You’d be correct. The best time to plant winter rye is in the fall, just when evenings start to get cool. However, in the west, winter rains have just begun–80° on New Year’s Eve is not uncommon–and if you watch the Rose Parade, you know what I mean. You could get away with planting winter rye this late in warmer climates–seed or sod. In fact, winter rye does well with occasional sunny days. Winter rye also is a great choice to over-seed your bermuda or St. Augustine grass.

Advantages of Winter Rye

Winter rye is known as a scavenger, meaning it will seek out nutrients in the soil. It loves nitrogen and finds the residual nitrogen in the soil. Farmers use it as a cover crop because it is good at keeping weeds out and holding the soil in. A cover crop is planted between seasons to maintain and add nutrients to the soil. Winter rye is used often because it grows so quickly.

Getting Rid of Winter Rye

Going into the summer months when your regular bermuda grows well, you should let the winter rye die back and let your summer grass grow in. Let it go a few weeks without watering, then return to regular maintenance as your bermuda comes out of its dormant season.

Native grasses are not interchangeable. The native grass you’ll choose if you live in a Nantucket cottage versus a ranch home in the Colorado mountains versus a tri-level in the Texas panhandle will be different in most cases. One of the most common native grasses used in naturalistic landscaping, especially here in the Western United States, is buffalo grass.

Great Xeriscaping Choice for the Western U.S.

Buffalo grass is a native grass that has lower water needs than typical lawns, requiring only a few inches of water a month even during hot weather. You probably won’t be surprised to know that the grass got its name from being the primary food for buffalo throughout the Great Plains and Texas.

A warm season grass, it will go dormant and brown in the winter months and then grow in green again in the spring. Buffalo grass has soft blades and, like most native grasses, does not have to be mowed unless you enjoy a highly manicured look. Depending on the variety, buffalo grass blades grow naturally to around 6 inches tall. One benefit of buffalo grass and other native grasses is the natural resistance it has developed to disease and pests.

Take a close look at buffalo grass for landscapes that are:

• Low traffic areas
• Low rainfall areas (15 to 30 inches yearly)
• Low maintenance areas
• Sunny and bright, with little shade

In addition to growing buffalo grass as a lawn, you could get really crazy and spread native perennial wildflowers and xeric naturalized bulbs throughout the grass for a beautiful wildflower meadow.

More information on xeriscape lawn options next time… stay tuned.

Before migrating to the desert, I grew up in Minnesota where the rich black soil nurtures grass so soft and beautiful we’d spend our summer days rolling in it and thinking up any excuse to stay barefoot. Now that’s grass.

Growing Your Home’s Worth

Outside of childhood memories, having a lawn in any part of the country can add value to your home. A section of green grass brings color, visual appeal, and a unifying element to your landscape design. A lawn can reduce the amount of dirt and dust brought into your entryway by visitors, kids, and pets. And most of us need some amount of grass for kids to play in, pets to enjoy, and other functional uses.

But (didn’t you just feel the “but” coming?) is the lawn you have now the low water lawn you need? The most prominent grass used in home lawns–Kentucky bluegrass–typically uses more than 48 inches of water during the growing season. If you live in a climate where your lawn receives that much water naturally, congratulations! If not, you might want to think about modifying your landscape to incorporate a low water lawn.

Xeriscaping Without Giving Up Your Lawn

Xeriscaping has become a popular concept in Western states where water is scarce and expensive. But is the idea of having a lawn compatible with xeriscaping? Absolutely. Here’s how:

1. Use native grasses or regionally appropriate ground cover. This will reduce water usage, maintenance, and the need for chemicals to beautify your lawn.
2. Reduce the size of your lawn area. Replace grass with hardscape, groundcover, or shrubs and perennials.
3. Try out cycle irrigation. Instead of watering in one big chunk of time, stagger your irrigation schedule in smaller intervals an hour or so apart. This practice increases water absorption, reduces water loss, and helps the lawn to become more drought tolerant.

More on xeriscaping and low water lawn options next time!

Last week I wrote about the common practice locally of overseeding lawns during the winter months. I know very few people who prefer the look of a brown dormant bermuda lawn to the lush, verdant green of an overseeded rye. But maybe you just can’t spend the money on a gardener or supplies this year, or you forget about it and miss the fairly brief window for overseeding. My husband and I have found ourselves in both situations.

Lawn in Repose

Dormant bermuda grass may look dead, but it’s actually going through a natural, healthy process. In fact, some experts suggest that allowing your dormant grass to go brown without overseeding can lead to a healthier bermuda lawn the following summer.

So what should you do with a dormant lawn? You may think “nothing.” You’ll save time and money by choosing not to overseed but, as much as you’d like to, you can’t ignore your winter bermuda grass completely. Here are a few bermuda lawn care tips for the winter:

1. Keep your lawn care schedule fairly normal in October–mow, fertilize, water. As the month progresses, cut back your irrigation schedule gradually until you’re watering about once a week.
2. Once November hits, limit your watering to once each month through March. You shouldn’t have to mow or fertilize during this period, although you may want to trim edges or uneven spots occasionally if you like things particularly tidy.
3. Try to limit activity on the bermuda grass while it’s dormant. The grass is weak and bare spots can develop easily.
4. Make sure weeds don’t get out of control in the midst of any patchy spots. Use whatever weed-fighting process you feel comfortable with (chemical, organic, etc) and nip them in the bud. If all else fails, pull them as soon as possible.
5. Take the opportunity to eradicate dormant bermuda from any flower beds or borders. Pulling it will be much easier when it’s dormant during the colder months.
6. Enjoy the fact that you’re conserving water, saving money, and gaining more time to enjoy the beautiful winter weather!

Follow these tips, and you should be enjoying a beautiful green lawn when things start to thaw out and become active again.

Here in the warm winter states, it’s a whole different world.

When I first moved to Arizona and was introduced to the concept of overseeding a lawn–adding new seed over an established lawn–I’ll admit to being flabbergasted. Coming from Minnesota with its beautiful, rich black soil and grass that grew thicker and faster than we wanted it to, the idea of having to reseed the yard with a new winter lawn seemed like a bad joke.

But we do what we must, so desert dwellers like me who need a little bit of green in their lives–especially during the winter when we actually spend time outside–make the yearly pilgrimage to the garden store or Home Depot for rye seed and manure. Residents of other warm winter states join the pilgrimage across the country.

And now to the question you’ve all been waiting for: to overseed or not to overseed? You will find pros and cons on both sides of the issue, but here are some factors to consider:

Reasons to say YES to overseeding

• Your family and pets often play on the grass
• Winter lawn overseeding with ryegrass can actually protect a bermuda lawn from wear and tear
• You just want beautiful green grass throughout the winter season

Reasons to say NO to overseeding

• You’re trying to cut out non-essential items in your budget, including overseeding costs like seed, fertilizer, and extra water
• You’re feeling a little lazy this year–overseeding takes work and maintenance
• Overseeding can slow down the process of Bermuda grass turning green again when things warm up

If you’re not sure one way the other, you can always compromise. Overseed your back yard and let your front yard go dormant. Focus on a small spot of your yard that gets the most traffic. Overseed one year and just say no the next. The choice is all up to you.

Ornamental grasses are hardy, and provide texture and colorful variety in your landscaping. Ornamental grasses are fairly easy to grow, but you don’t want to encourage them to spread as you would with turf grass. Some ornamental grasses spread in a manner similar to turf grass; their underground rhizomes spread and send up new shoots. This works well for cultivating a lush green lawn that can choke out weeds, but you don’t want ornamental grasses to spread freely and choke out other ornamental plants. other species may distribute seeds resulting in unwanted “volunteer” plants.

photo credit: www.urbanext.illinois.edu

Suggested Uses

Container gardens: Whether a single plant, or a group of containers positioned on patio, deck or poolside, ornamental grasses add interest and color.
Ornamental grasses are great for Asian or Zen themed gardens, and add contemporary flair to landscaping.
Use ornamental grasses in xeriscapes; after initial “watering in,” they require little supplemental water unless subjected to extreme heat.

Care and Maintenance

Ornamental grasses are ideal for busy households with little time for garden chores.

After planting, water generously and continue to do so until plants are established.
Fertilize with a slow release fertilizer in spring
Handle grasses carefully, the edges of their blades can be sharp.
Watch condition of plants and leaf color for deterioration or signs of dryness.

Enhance your turf grass lawn by adding ornamental grasses to landscaping and containers.

In southern California during the 1960s, dichondra lawns were all the rage. Dichondra (Dichondra repens) is not actually grass, but a warm season ground cover that was originally considered a weed. Dichondra’s round leaves provide a springy, “cushy” feel underfoot; there’s nothing like going barefoot on a dichondra lawn. Our neighborhood lawn warriors worked constantly to maintain well manicured carpets of dichondra without intrusion by grass or other interlopers. Hardy in the Southland’s warm and dry climate, dichondra lawns looked great, although they suffered from over watering and constant trampling by kids and dogs.

Then came the flea beetles, which decimated dichondra lawns. The once emerald “king” quickly lost favor as a lawn cover, and grass soon returned. Isolated populations of a single organism are vulnerable to failure. Mixing dichondra with other types of less appetizing grass might have slowed the ravenous flea beetles–plants are designed to be part of a diverse ecosystem. Gardeners know that planting certain flowers among their vegetables can help reduce pests. The dichondra lawns of my childhood failed due to a lack of “community support.”

These days, my lawn is mostly rye with a few other types of grass, and it sure doesn’t have uniform texture or color (never mind the trails the dogs have run through it), but the grass grows fast and looks healthy.

Biodiversity works for my lawn.