Shropshire, 2009 ). All these characteristics make native plants desirable for ecologically conscious gardeners and landscape designers. Native grasses provide many of these environmental benefits. They are low-maintenance plants that need little fertilizer
). These methods have not been used for evaluating stands of native grasses with variable visual characteristics. The color of native turfgrass stands vary widely, making comparisons of turfgrass quality difficult. This is a challenge in the development of
roots of the common prairie grasses were perennial. Weaver (1968) extensively studied the root growth of native prairie grasses and midwestern range and pasture grasses in the first half of the 20th century, including some of the grasses in this study
Ornamental and native grasses are increasing in popularity in southern United States gardens, as exemplified by evaluations in Florida ( Wilson and Knox, 2006 ), Georgia ( Corley and Reynolds, 1994 ; Ruter and Carter, 2000 ), and South Carolina
Ornamental and native grasses and grass-like species are becoming increasingly popular as landscape plants ( Dana, 2002 ; Ruter and Carter, 2000 ; Thetford et al., 2009 ). Numerous species are now widely available and can be selected to fit almost
irrigation water or a high soil water table. Non-native grasses maintained during the growing season compete with the grapevines for water and nitrogen and have led to reductions in grapevine vigor and yield. A cover crop of ‘Berber’ orchardgrass ( Dactylis
prairie dropseed plants had the highest survival rates, highest pupation weight, and shortest time to pupation compared with other native grasses. Prairie dropseed is thought to be an optimal forage for native Lepidoptera ( Dana, 1991 ). Despite its
Many native and ornamental grasses can provide year-long beauty and interest including autumn and winter ( Plowes, 2012 ) to residential, business, municipal, and natural landscapes. They can be used as specimen plants; accent plants; or for
studies have evaluated California native grasses in vineyards ( Baumgartner et al., 2008 ; Ingels et al., 2005 ), and neither found a negative effect on grape yield. Several studies have looked at how vineyard cover crops affect soil– and plant
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has used hydroseeding, imprinting, and drill seeding methods to revegetate highway construction sites, with varying degrees of success. Ecological concerns, particularly in areas with high erosion potential, have led Caltrans to search for more-reliable plant establishment methods. One possibility is native sod, which should reduce erosion potential, and, the species would also be better suited to local environments, require less maintenance, and pose no invasive threat to adjacent ecosystems. In addition, the use of native sod may also reduce or prevent weed establishment. Our project aims to evaluate different native grass species mixes to determine the best species combinations for sod. We selected 21 species of native grasses in order to determine their suitability for sod production in six Californian ecoregions. Grasses were grown in six growth chambers that mimic the climate of the six ecoregions. Mixtures of varying species included either one rhizomatous species with three bunch grasses, one rhizomatous species and five bunch grasses, two rhizomatous species with three bunch grasses, or two rhizomatous species with five bunch grasses for each ecoregion. The mixtures were grown and tested for yield, species composition, and percentage of cover over time. At the end of the 6-month production time, a final harvest evaluated root depth and biomass as well as sod strength. Rhizomatous grasses, if planted with Bromus sp., were quickly overwhelmed. At the first harvest ground coverage was between 10% and 15% for all species mixes. Ground coverage increased over the production cycle, but maximum ground coverage remained less than 80% overall.