Interest Grows in California Native Grasses

All Delta Bluegrass California native blends, once established, will require about 50 percent less water compared to traditional sod varieties. Urban landscape areas have been cultivated to become the first native lawns available that can withstand mowing. Suggested mowing height ranges from 2 to 6 inches.
Courtesy of Delta Bluegrass Co.

Interest in California native grasses has spread throughout the green industry. Water conservation concerns and economics have prompted many to investigate grasses that thrive with little water or no supplemental water.

Native grasses are the foundation of our many native ecosystems. They have evolved to live with California's diverse topography, climate and soil types. Water seeking roots can often reach a depth of 6 feet, increasing water infiltration, recycling nutrients and providing soil stabilization. In bioswale conditions, native grasses absorb nitrates, heavy metals and solids that have entered into waterways.

The species used by Delta Bluegrass Company stay green year round if irrigated, with up to 50 percent less water than traditional cool season turfgrasses. In non-irrigated applications, most native sod blends will establish and actively grow during the wet season. They will go dormant during the summer becoming golden summer fields and then green up in the fall to become cool season meadows.

Currently the company offers six different blends and/or individual varieties commercially available. Native Bentgrass• and Delta Grassland Mix• are cultivated to become the native lawns that withstand well timed mowing for urban landscape areas.

For bio-swales, roadsides, medians, irrigation canals, erosion control and environmental mitigation areas, the team has developed Native Mow Free•, Biofiltration Sod•, Delta Native Heartland Sod• and Native Preservation Mix•.