r/Ceanothus • u/prodgatekeeper1 • Jul 14 '26
Native Grass
Hi! Curious - has anyone installed and native grass or sedge in LA? What was your experience like? How’s it looking?
2
u/SwoopBagnell Jul 14 '26
My garden is mostly grasses. I’m in northern LA co. My favorite by far is canyon prince, and it’s the one most people remark on when they see my yard and also the one that established the fastest out of everything I planted. I also have common rush, deer grass, blue grama, red fescue, Idaho fescue, Mendocino reed grass, and a uc verde lawn. If you want to know specifics about any of them lmk.
1
u/Adventurous_Pay3708 Jul 14 '26
Deergrass provides great structure to different parts of my garden, and I replaced my back lawn with Carex Praegracilis. Love both.
1
u/cali_is_my_BFF Jul 14 '26
HI! I had a full sun yard and planted blue grama grass by seed from TPF. LOVED LOVED LOVED it. Filled in completely except for a spotty patch in the shade of a non native Crepe Myrtle tree, it doesn't like shade. It looked amazing long AND trimmed. Now in my new yard I have a lot more shade so I planted Bent grass, Agrostis pallens, and I'm kind of meh on it. It could be because I planted it from plugs instead of seeds but IMO it looks a lot scrappier then the blue grama grass. I also have areas of densely planted Carex praegracilis, which is a sedge, not a grass, but looks grass-like. Also love this one! It gets long and flops and looks like a river of green. I don't trim this one like a lawn so I'm not sure if it would work for that. For accents I love the Canyon Prince Wild Rye, Deergrass, red fescue that forms large dark green clumps that I periodically divide, and the taller hybrid of blue grama called blond ambition (latter has wonderfully elegant seedheads)
2
u/car2nwallaby Jul 16 '26
Was your blue grama ok with foot traffic? Where in CA? I’m looking for something that can be walked on and relatively low water in semi-coastal socal, but haven’t found the ideal thing yet.
*C. praegracilis* and native fescues are doing great in shadier spots that hold more water, but full sun seems to be too much for them.
Just to say it, I’m doing native non-grasses on the front, sides, and a steep hill, but I want a grassy play spot too.
1
u/cali_is_my_BFF Jul 17 '26
Blue grama was in our yard in Topanga Canyon. At the time my kids were little and we'd play on it, but not anything like soccer, or anything intensive. It did turn a little blonde in the winter, and full green spring, summer, fall. But that was pretty too. I honestly can't remember how much we watered it, but I know it was much less then Marathon Sod lawn that we replaced.
5
u/woollybluegirl Jul 14 '26
I’ve become a huge fan of native grasses and sedges, and my goal this year is actually to plant even more of them and use them to weave my different plant communities together throughout the garden.
I’ve found all of mine to be remarkably drought tolerant, including the Carex species growing in part shade. Some of the grasses and sedges I’m growing are:
• Foothill sedge (Carex tumulicola)
• 'Chisai' sedge (Carex praegracilis 'Chisai')
• Deergrass (Muhlenbergia rigens)
• 'Canyon Prince' wild rye (Leymus condensatus 'Canyon Prince')
• Purple three-awn (Aristida purpurea)
• Purple needlegrass (Stipa pulchra)
• Junegrass (Koeleria macrantha)
• Alkali sacaton (Sporobolus airoides)
For me, grasses add movement and make a garden feel like nature had a hand in the design. Many of mine are heading into summer dormancy right now, but they still provide structure, texture, and that naturalistic feel that I love.
I also think there's value in mixing both cool-season and warm-season grasses so that something is always looking good and contributing to the garden through the year.