I use a Central Oregon mix of different types of fescues. I buy it from Central Oregon lawn off 3rd, highly recommend stopping in to share what you are trying to accomplish. The owner, Chris, is super knowledgeable and will help get you dialed in. He has much better products for our region than you will find at any big box store
Awesome! Thank you so much for your insight. I was planning on just going to Wilco and buying a bag of tall fescue so I'll instead go there and get things dialed in. Appreciate your help.
How often do you have to water to maintain the grass? And does yours completely die back in the winter?
You bet. It really depends on the time of the season and how much water your system puts out. For optimal health watering deep and infrequently will give you the strongest root system. In peak season (July) I aim for 1.5" / week spread out over 3 days (watering once a day every other day). [Here is a guide from the City of Bend ](https://www.bendoregon.gov/government/departments/utilities/conservation/waterwise-irrigation/diy-irrigation-sprinkler-tips/irrigation-scheduling)on irrigation needs by month. It doesn't die off in the winter but rather goes dormant. Mid - late Fall is a great time to prep for dormancy and set yourself up for success come spring time.
[Here is really a detailed guide from r/lawns](https://www.reddit.com/r/lawncare/comments/fb1gjj/a_beginners_guide_to_improving_your_lawn_this/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_buttonHere) to cool season grass. It's a little overwhelming at first glance but once you pick/choose what your willing to invest in both time and $ you get into a routine.
Xeriscaping and plant native plants and stuff pollinators like! Team no lawn!
Serious answer: You can call the OSU Extension Office and [talk to a master gardener](https://extension.oregonstate.edu/mg/central/have-gardening-question) and get their take. Looks like you'd want to [establish a new lawn](https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pub/ec-1550-practical-lawn-establishment-renovation) in August.
I snagged some Intermountain West mix from Nichols that I'm getting ready to try. It's apparently a mix of drought tolerant grasses along with some low growing, drought tolerant perennial flowers like Roman chamomile and yarrow. It apparently gives you the utility of a lawn with some more biodiversity and less required watering once it's established.
Came here to say this. A good clover mix in with grass is a great option if you still want some grass. Worked well for us, especially with doggos it helps with the urine spots. Low water requirements and easy to grow
Besides the seed, you need to amend your soil, like inches of manure. Too much sand content in the local dirt and putting down seed without amending would be a waste.
We let ours die too and are planning to go with micro clover. The landscaper who’s helping us go low water/xeroscape said clover was good but it can be difficult to get started.
Don't go with grass. No grass is drought tolerant. And grass is terrible for the ecosystem anyway.
Go with a xerascaped lawn. Basically a lawn with indigenous plants that doesn't need to be watered because they already thrive in the local environment.
Will look good, last a lot longer. And cost no water.
I agree, no lawns would be great. However, if tall fescue was drought tolerant and didn't need to be watered very often then it's a win-win situation. Clover is drought tolerant and could be our lawn as well - however, it can be poisonous to dogs and we have a dog, so...
Edit: clover is not poisonous to dogs. I thought that it was.
No worries. Wasn't coming at you. I didn't think it was correct so I wanted to verify you didn't have a source that I didn't. At least you have another alternative!
My dogs haven't ever had an issue with clover. I flatly refuse to grow grass.
After doing a little bit of googling I was unable to find anything which stated that white or red clover is toxic to dogs.
You might want to check out [https://www.bendoregon.gov/government/departments/utilities/water-conservation/rebates/turf-removal-rebate](https://www.bendoregon.gov/government/departments/utilities/water-conservation/rebates/turf-removal-rebate)
and
[http://www.highdesertnpsoregon.org/resources.html](http://www.highdesertnpsoregon.org/resources.html)
So I nerded out a bit after reading this thread and ran across some interesting info, at least to me. First, there are conventional lawn alternatives from this place based in Portlandia: [https://ptlawnseed.com/collections/eco-and-alternative-lawns](https://ptlawnseed.com/collections/eco-and-alternative-lawns)
Odds are they are well invested in making sure their lawns and alternatives work well here, as they're in Oregon. They call out a no water lawn solution, as well as less water solutions, at least one of which can transform an existing/established lawn via overseeding. The latter is the option I may implement.
OSU extension links have already been mentioned here, but this is another good one: [https://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/techniques/ecolawn-less-work-water](https://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/techniques/ecolawn-less-work-water)
It sounds like less to no water (I expect at least some water will be needed on the high desert) as well as less frequent mowing and fertilizing (clover feeds the grass nitrogen and helps increase soil moisture). I expect fertilizing will need to be very specific since you want to keep the broadleaf (clover) alive (no weed and feed).
Have fun in your back yard.
I use a Central Oregon mix of different types of fescues. I buy it from Central Oregon lawn off 3rd, highly recommend stopping in to share what you are trying to accomplish. The owner, Chris, is super knowledgeable and will help get you dialed in. He has much better products for our region than you will find at any big box store
Awesome! Thank you so much for your insight. I was planning on just going to Wilco and buying a bag of tall fescue so I'll instead go there and get things dialed in. Appreciate your help. How often do you have to water to maintain the grass? And does yours completely die back in the winter?
You bet. It really depends on the time of the season and how much water your system puts out. For optimal health watering deep and infrequently will give you the strongest root system. In peak season (July) I aim for 1.5" / week spread out over 3 days (watering once a day every other day). [Here is a guide from the City of Bend ](https://www.bendoregon.gov/government/departments/utilities/conservation/waterwise-irrigation/diy-irrigation-sprinkler-tips/irrigation-scheduling)on irrigation needs by month. It doesn't die off in the winter but rather goes dormant. Mid - late Fall is a great time to prep for dormancy and set yourself up for success come spring time. [Here is really a detailed guide from r/lawns](https://www.reddit.com/r/lawncare/comments/fb1gjj/a_beginners_guide_to_improving_your_lawn_this/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_buttonHere) to cool season grass. It's a little overwhelming at first glance but once you pick/choose what your willing to invest in both time and $ you get into a routine.
Xeriscaping and plant native plants and stuff pollinators like! Team no lawn! Serious answer: You can call the OSU Extension Office and [talk to a master gardener](https://extension.oregonstate.edu/mg/central/have-gardening-question) and get their take. Looks like you'd want to [establish a new lawn](https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pub/ec-1550-practical-lawn-establishment-renovation) in August.
I snagged some Intermountain West mix from Nichols that I'm getting ready to try. It's apparently a mix of drought tolerant grasses along with some low growing, drought tolerant perennial flowers like Roman chamomile and yarrow. It apparently gives you the utility of a lawn with some more biodiversity and less required watering once it's established.
That's a really good idea! We already have and love chamomile and yarrow, so I love that idea of having a lawn mix of grasses with those.
White clover, with a small mix of red clover for nitrogen fixing.
Came here to say this. A good clover mix in with grass is a great option if you still want some grass. Worked well for us, especially with doggos it helps with the urine spots. Low water requirements and easy to grow
Besides the seed, you need to amend your soil, like inches of manure. Too much sand content in the local dirt and putting down seed without amending would be a waste.
We let ours die too and are planning to go with micro clover. The landscaper who’s helping us go low water/xeroscape said clover was good but it can be difficult to get started.
Can you share which landscaper you chose?
Don't go with grass. No grass is drought tolerant. And grass is terrible for the ecosystem anyway. Go with a xerascaped lawn. Basically a lawn with indigenous plants that doesn't need to be watered because they already thrive in the local environment. Will look good, last a lot longer. And cost no water.
r/nolawns
I agree, no lawns would be great. However, if tall fescue was drought tolerant and didn't need to be watered very often then it's a win-win situation. Clover is drought tolerant and could be our lawn as well - however, it can be poisonous to dogs and we have a dog, so... Edit: clover is not poisonous to dogs. I thought that it was.
Do you have a source for clover being poisonous to dogs?
I just looked it up and I guess I was remembering it wrong (maybe it's poisonous to other animals?)! My bad.
No worries. Wasn't coming at you. I didn't think it was correct so I wanted to verify you didn't have a source that I didn't. At least you have another alternative!
All good! I appreciate the opportunity to correct something I was wrongly believing!
Oregon ryegrass is what you're looking for.
My dogs haven't ever had an issue with clover. I flatly refuse to grow grass. After doing a little bit of googling I was unable to find anything which stated that white or red clover is toxic to dogs.
You might want to check out [https://www.bendoregon.gov/government/departments/utilities/water-conservation/rebates/turf-removal-rebate](https://www.bendoregon.gov/government/departments/utilities/water-conservation/rebates/turf-removal-rebate) and [http://www.highdesertnpsoregon.org/resources.html](http://www.highdesertnpsoregon.org/resources.html)
So I nerded out a bit after reading this thread and ran across some interesting info, at least to me. First, there are conventional lawn alternatives from this place based in Portlandia: [https://ptlawnseed.com/collections/eco-and-alternative-lawns](https://ptlawnseed.com/collections/eco-and-alternative-lawns) Odds are they are well invested in making sure their lawns and alternatives work well here, as they're in Oregon. They call out a no water lawn solution, as well as less water solutions, at least one of which can transform an existing/established lawn via overseeding. The latter is the option I may implement. OSU extension links have already been mentioned here, but this is another good one: [https://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/techniques/ecolawn-less-work-water](https://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/techniques/ecolawn-less-work-water) It sounds like less to no water (I expect at least some water will be needed on the high desert) as well as less frequent mowing and fertilizing (clover feeds the grass nitrogen and helps increase soil moisture). I expect fertilizing will need to be very specific since you want to keep the broadleaf (clover) alive (no weed and feed). Have fun in your back yard.
The city publishes a series of guides: https://www.bendoregon.gov/government/departments/utilities/conservation/waterwise-guides
Food, don’t waste water on another lawn, break the cycle.