Watering your lawn should be a pleasant chore, one that allows you to leisurely enjoy the beauty of your landscape as you work. Constant worry about how much water your grass needs can make the job stressful. If you want to enjoy that walk around your lawn with the garden hose and sprinkler a bit less often, consider these drought-resistant grasses to alleviate the lawn watering you have to do.
- Fine fescues are very hardy little plants that handle drought conditions well. Lawn watering with fine fescues can be minimal in times of drought, and the grasses still hold up very well. Try chewing fescue, creeping red, and hard fescue varieties.
- Tall fescue can develop a deep root system in good soil, and that root system makes it naturally drought-resistant. But keep in mind that it takes time for those roots to develop.
- Kentucky bluegrass has the ability to go dormant during times of drought. The grass turns a mild straw color and gradually slows its growth. When watering is plentiful, Kentucky bluegrass can sprout new blades from the crown of each plant, and soon is lush and beautiful again.
- Bermuda grass loves the heat and quickly grows deep root systems, making it perfect for drier, warmer climates.
If at all possible, choose native grasses for your landscape. Native grasses have had quite some time to adapt to the conditions of a certain region, and as such, are able to handle long periods of drought. When watering grass becomes a chore, these drought-resistant options can let you spend less time sprinkling your lawn, and more time doing the things you enjoy.
Shannon Dauphin is a freelance writer based near Nashville, Tennessee. Her house was built in 1901, so home repair and renovation have become her hobbies.
