Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
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Friday - September 14, 2012
From: Surfside Beach, SC
Region: Southeast
Topic: Planting, Grasses or Grass-like
Title: Planting buffalograss from Surfside Beach SC
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
How do I plant buffalograss along a lake? Do I just spread the seeds?ANSWER:
We will be happy to give you planting instructions for Bouteloua dactyloides (Buffalograss). Follow that plant link to our webpage on buffalograss, and then go to our How-To Article on Native Lawns: Buffalograss. You did not say if you had sun or shade, an existing turf or what your soils are, but we can assure you that instructions for planting it do NOT include sprinkling seeds. That was the bad news.
Now, the worse news. As you will see from this USDA Plant Profile Map, Buffalograss is not native to South Carolina. In fact, the nearest it is found growing to South Carolina is one county each in Virginia and Georgia.
If you read our webpage (linked above) on this grass, you will find this statement:
"Soil Description: Well-drained loam, clay, caliche, or limestone. Does not like sand."
We could not discover your soil type, but we feel in a town named Surfside Beach, there is probably some sand in the soil. In fact, Horry County is directly on the Atlantic Ocean coast.
There is nothing to stop you from trying, but as you can see from the information we have given you, it is not particularly easy to establish, and we would hate for you to waste resources attempting to do so.
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