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.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
rate this answer
Thursday - July 18, 2013
From: Bucks County, PA
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Grasses or Grass-like
Title: Grasses for Pennsylvania
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
What type of grass does the best in my area?ANSWER:
Assuming you want information about lawn grasses, the article, Turf Grass Species for Pennsylvania from Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences is an excellent source of information for lawn grasses in your area. It is obvious that they have done lots of research and provide detailed information about hardiness, diseases, fertilizing and much more for several lawn grass species. Many of the species they talk about are introduced species but they do list a couple of native grasses. It should be noted that those two native grasses also have introduced varieities. Since our mission here at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is "to increase the sustainable use and conservation of native wildflowers, plants and landscapes," I won't be recommending that you plant non-native grasses. That doesn't mean that the introduced species are necessarily bad—it just means we hope you will consider planting native species. The two native species recommended in the article from Penn State are:
- Poa pratensis (Kentucky bluegrass) Here is more information from Missouri Botanical Garden.
- Festuca rubra (Red fescue) Here is more information from Missouri Botanical Garden.
Here are some very wise tips from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for maintaining your lawn no matter what grass you decide to use.
If you are looking for grasses for meadows or fields or for ornamentals in your garden, you can go to our Native Plants Database and select "Poaceae (Grass Family)" by scrolling down the list in the Family: slot. This will give you a list of all grasses in our Native Plant Database, but you can use the NARROW YOUR SEARCH option to limit the list to Pennsylvania grasses by selecting your state from the Select State of Province slot. You will then have a list of 164 grasses native to Pennsylvania that you can scroll through, many with photos. You can use other criteria (e.g., Light Requirement, Soil Moisture, Height) to narrow this list even further.
More Grasses or Grass-like Questions
Landscaping on South Padre Island
June 07, 2008 - I'm in charge of landscaping at my beachfront condo in South Padre Island and find the wind, salt air, and heat challenging for growing almost anything. We would like to incorporate native plants, b...
view the full question and answer
Narrow strip of groundcover from Sonora TX
April 29, 2013 - I have an area that is right under my patio about 12 feet by 1 ft. I'm looking for something to plant in there. It has afternoon sun, morning shade. I live in SW Texas so it is hot. but would like so...
view the full question and answer
Groundcover for Shade in Spicewood
September 16, 2015 - We live in Spicewood area in Austin, TX. Our front yard is yellow almost all summer, I was thinking of replacing lawn with a ground cover which can live on once a week sprinkler and no mowing. Also th...
view the full question and answer
Transplanting Muhly grass in late summer from Wimberley TX
August 02, 2012 - Can I transplant Muhly grass in July/August?
view the full question and answer
Setaria scheelei grass for San Antonio
March 21, 2011 - It seems that ornamental grasses for dry shady places are few and far between. Southwestern Bristlegrass (Setaria scheelei) is exactly what I'm looking for and would solve all my problems! Only I c...
view the full question and answer
Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |