Make the "kudzu of grasses" your friend for a low maintenance summer turf.

We bought our current house over 20 years ago in Central North Carolina. My neighbors were big into their yards and kept them meticulously "mowed and blowed" which was a bit new to me. My previous yard wasn't much bigger than a postage stamp. If I didn't mow it for a week or two no one really noticed. In my new neighborhood though, being bookended by yards that looked like they belonged in Southern Living magazine, I felt pressure to keep things ship-shape.

One of the first impromptu yard lessons I got from my neighbor was that "wild bermuda", a type of naturalized grass, was the enemy and had to be eradicated! Wild Bermuda is actually a species of wire grass. It establishes very easily almost anywhere in this area and spreads underground via rhizomes. It is super drought tolerant although it grows best with some water. It's a warm season grass and will go dormant and brown during the winter. For my neighbor, it had no place in a fescue lawn since it looked different and didn't blend with the fescue in winter.

For many years I tried my best to eliminate this hardy grass. It scoffed at glyphosate. Even multiple treatments wouldn't kill it because the rhizomes were so deep. They would always come back. I re-sodded with fescue twice in my backyard several years ago. The first time, a landscaping company did the work and applied three treatments of commercial grade weed killer over two weeks. They removed all of the wire grass and a few inches of the topsoil in addition. I remember inspecting the bare ground and seeing some pieces of wire grass rhizome that appeared to be alive. I called the landscapers who said that it probably wouldn't be able to re-establish. Wrong. The new sod fescue was beautiful for a season then the wire grass crept back in, slowly at first and then it visibly started to take over. There was another issue with a fungus or some other disease that affected part of the lawn. It didn't faze the wire grass though, which quickly filled in spots that the fungus killed.

I was determined not to be defeated. I bought some additional sod and personally dug out every bit of wire grass rhizome I could find. It was hard work. Some parts of the plant were 6" deep and twice as long with runners along the way. This is the kudzu of grasses I thought to myself. The second sodding worked about the same as the first. The sod looked good for a while but then fell victim to whatever disease was in the soil. Wire grass quickly filled in.

Not wanting to throw good money after bad, I decided to call a truce in the grass wars and just let things be for a while. The wire grass continued to fill-in spots where the fescue wasn't healthy. It also slowly started to come up in other areas of the back yard. I noticed that where the wire grass had completely taken over, it didn't look that bad. Its growth habit is a little looser than fescue, but it quickly thickens over the course of the season to form a decent turf. I finally decided to surrender the back yard to wire grass two years ago and I've been pleasantly surprised. I don't have to water at all to keep it alive however a couple of waterings a week keeps it going strong and looking it's best. It stands up to the intense heat of our summers very well and it tolerates high foot traffic. I fertilize in the spring and fall however, I'm not sure it's necessary. I mow every other week.

Bottom line, if you are looking for a low maintenance lawn that requires less water, chemicals, and fertilizer, consider wire grass. If it's already growing in your lawn, you can just let it go. It will quickly take over. If you want to speed things up, t's easily propagated from cuttings. you can buy wire grass seed online however, I'm not sure it's the same as the wild variety that grows around here. Make sure and keep it out of your neighbor's yard with a hard edge or prudent trimming

Next post: Keeping your warm season yard green during the winter with cat grass!

Here are a few pics of my wire grass yard.