Plant of the week: Bouteloua dactyloides 'UC Verde'

I've been testing the 'UC Verde' buffalo grass.  After planting a small patch along the driveway, I decided that I liked it enough to plant some more. This time I will see how it does with the difficult center area of the driveway where it will be subjected to all manner of abuses.

Bouteloua dactyloides or buffalo grass is a short prairie grass whose range spans much of the middle of the country and southwest.  It has the look of a softer, more polite cousin of Bermuda grass. I like the slight blueish hue that it has. It's also very nice under foot. This 'UC Verde' cultivar was developed here in California (though I can't find any info on where or how exactly it was developed) and is supposed to have a shorter dormancy than other varieties. Another benefit is that the grass has growth habit of 4-8" tall, so there isn't a lot of mowing needed.  I my experience so far, it doesn't need any mowing, in fact it's only about 3-4"tall. Oh and of course the big reason why it is gaining popularity is that it's very drought tolerant.

Since I planted it in the autumn, and being that it is a warm season grass, it basically sat doing zip for 6 months.  It didn't really go brown but just lots a bit of color as I recall. And then several weeks ago it turned on with the heat.  And that's when I thought it would be nice to plant some more.  A week and a half ago I dug up some of the plant to be divided and replanted in some 2" pots.  In a week they had roots poking out of the bottom of their little pots.

We shall see how hey do!

                                Original patch

                                Hair plug-esque planting