I live in Southern California. My zip code is 91730, which it is part of the Inland Empire. I believe it is designated zone 12, but regardless it is your typical dessert climate.

Currently, my lawn looked like gangrenous nuclear disaster zone. It is filled with dead patches and sporting three different colors: brown, blue green and yellow green. The parts that are currently not in necrosis can be identified as Fescue, but it has not been overseeded for at least 10 years.

I read on the forum that Bermuda grass is ideal for decent traffic and they are low maintenance, which sounds great. Though honestly, my lawn gets next to no traffic and my water bill is sucking me dry.

My hope is that there is a type of seed where I can just overseed my old lawn and the new breed will eventually take over. But at the same time, the new breed should not take over my neighbors�f lawn, since my neighbor's lawn and mine are connected. Most importantly, I hope the new breed will significantly disappoint the accountants at Cucamonga Vally Water District.

Nevertheless I rather be hopeless than advice-less. So please, I humbly beg for any scrap of knowledge that would make me a greener thumb.

Thank you in advance,

Alan Lee

Bermuda is good for heavy traffic like football fields. Mowing maintenance is extra high for bermuda if you don't want it to look shaggy. 2x per week is good at your mower's lowest setting. Water can be withheld from bermuda and it will come back, but it will not look good when it is dormant/dry. It also has a monthly fertilizer requirement if you want it to look nice.

You want something that can be seeded. Bermuda is the only southern grass that can be seeded and look nice. There are some seeded buffalo grass varieties but when they are mature, they look like a weed patch by the side of the road. Why? Because that is where the seeds come from. The hybrid, sod varieties of buffalo are very nice, but they might interfere with your neighbor. The one in California is called UC Verde. Check with your local nurseries and see if they sell it. Also ask them to see an installation of it. Buffalo grass does not need the excessive fertilizer and can be left unmowed longer than bermuda. It will not die from drought and usually can go longer than bermuda before becoming dormant (I think I have that right). The problem with the hybrid buffalo is they spread...into your neighbor's lawn.

Assuming your neighbor still has fescue, there is really nothing to offer besides fescue that will not spread across. You might consider installing a concrete curb between you and him. Here's a picture of a lawn in the Texas Panhandle with a concrete curb barrier.

There are some non traditional grasses you might look into. Blue grama is a prairie grass which, when planted densely like fescue, and mowed every few weeks, can look like an excellent lawn. Here is a picture of a blue grama lawn from the High Country Gardens website. Note that it is not a pure blue grama lawn and has a few weeds in it.

Blue grama rarely needs water or fertilizer and can go monthly without mowing before you get the seed heads. The only thing is that it is a bunch grass like fescue and does not spread to fill in if something happens. You might need to continue overseeding until you get the density needed to keep weeds out. On the plus side, weeds need water and with blue grama, you don't need to water it after it is established - at least not in your part of SoCal. At least you get the February rains.

I will see if I can locate a nursery and see what I can find.

So it seems like Burmuda is not the best way to go. So its either fescue, blue gama or a hybrid. Or something that looks like fescue, but capable of taking over the entire neighborhood without anyone noticing it....

Thank you all again!
AL

Although blue grama is a bunch type grass, it will spread slowly if it's watered and mowed. It spreads via tillers, rather than rhizomes, so new plants sprout right next to an existing plant. So it won't spread to fill in large bare spots, but will spread slowly from the center of a plant.

I really like the looks of blue grama. It's a lighter green than something like KBG or tall fescue, but it's fine bladed and soft.

http://lazygardens.blogspot.com/search/label/buffalo grass

AFTER it's established, which takes a couple of months, it needs far less water than Bermuda, and far less mowing. If you like a silky meadow, you can leave it unmowed.

In AZ, I'm watering every 10 days and mowing about every two weeks. Bermuda would need watering every 3 days and mowing twice a week.

It's a spreading grass, but not nearly as bad as Bermuda because it only spreads above ground.

Kill off the fescue first, then plug the UC verde.