Plant of the Week: Buffalograss

Common Name: Buffalograss (Click for picture)
Latin Name: Buchloe dactyloides
Origin: Great Plains


I know this is something of a switch in the Plant of the Week, but I thought it would be a fun change. Buffalograss is native to the Great Plains, and is one of the warm season grasses that can be used for lawn or turf grasses in southern Kansas, and points farther south. It is particularly well adapted to soils that are heavy clay and to climates that are not extremely cold in the winter but have hot, dry summers. It is a very fine-leaved grass with a blue-gray-green color. It spreads by aboveground stolons.

Buffalograss is not particularly invasive, especially compared to Bermudagrass. It also requires little or no irrigation or fertilization, which makes it the grass of choice for those looking for a low maintenance or "earth friendly" lawn. The downside is that it is dormant (brown) during the cool early spring and late fall, which apparently people can't handle.

Buffalograss, being native to the prairie, is not perfect for a monoculture lawn either. It will tend to allow a few weeds to compete and live side-by-side.