Category: Lawns
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Flowering Buffaloes
More than two years after I discovered and marveled over the legendary Bouteloua dactyloides (buffalo grass) that had escaped into the lawns of Rutgers University, I visited again in June 2026, and this time found them flowering. The last time I saw them, it was easy to tell them apart from the rest of the…
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What is a “sidewalk prairie” or “sidewalk grassland”?
In my mind, a “sidewalk prairie” (or “sidewalk grassland”) refers to the one or two strips of grassy areas that border a sidewalk, with one being towards the street, and the other fronting some other landscaping, such as a wall or taller shrubs and trees. This was something I was thinking about during a morning…
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The State of some Florida Grasses after a Severely Cold Arctic Blast
An arctic blast brought freezing temperatures to Central Florida the last couple weeks. For three consecutive nights, temperatures dropped below freezing. In the aftermath of these disastrous weather events, whole swathes of herbaceous ornamentals, trees, and shrubs were left seemingly dead, their leaves turned a crinkly brown. Even the succulents were affected, with the big…
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Surprising Filipino Lawns: Axonopus compressus in the Philippines
One of the interesting things I found out when visiting the Philippines was the heavy use of Axonopus compressus as turf grass. Although this stoloniferous species (it uses above ground shoots to spread laterally) is also used in the United States, and especially in Florida, I don’t believe I’ve actually ever encountered it there, where…