A Beginner's Guide to Buffalo Grass

The name helps you imagine herds of buffalo happily eating this grass as they roamed the prairies. The grass seed used in most American lawns today comes from northern European grass species, which explains why conventional lawns need so much water to stay green. This tough native grass requires less water and less fertilizer than non-native grasses, making it a great lawn replacement. Scroll on for planting and sourcing tips.

Buffalo Grass

Latin name:

Buchloe dactyloides

Buffalo Grass

Written by Em Lessard and Louise Lerner. Em is the founder of The Plant Native. Louise is a science writer with the University of Chicago; on the weekends, she's a gardener and nature enthusiast.

Thousands of years of Buffalo Grass

Buffalo Grass (Buchloe dactyloides) is a low-maintenance, tough grass native to the Great Plains of North America. Imagine thousands of miles of the Great Plains being filled with this grass while wild bison roamed and ate the grass (hence the name.) It may have been one of the most common plants in America for millions of years, standing up to every type of weather imaginable.

Because Buffalo Grass has grown in North America for generations and generations, it is a plant native to North America. Native plants offer resilience, beauty, and ecological benefits that no non-native plant can come close to. They are always the best choice for our yards.

Buffalo Grass as a…house?

There are many written accounts of settlers describing the rolling acres and acres of Buffalo Grass when the west was first settled. The grass was dug up and used for sod homes of the early European settlers.

Enter Buffalo Grass as a lawn

Buffalo grass was first used as turf grass in the 1930s. It used to have a reputation for being expensive and hard to work with, but newer Buffalo Grass cultivars include options that make it easier to plant and thrive.

Buffalo grass is a perennial plant that spreads by stolons, which are little runner shoots that come from a plant to create new plants. If you’ve seen a strawberry plant grow—long, thin arms shooting out to start other plants—you know how stolons work. This allows them to quickly spread to form a lawn.

What does Buffalo grass look like as a lawn?

Buffalo grass is a great native plant for lawns. It is the native grass that looks most like a traditional European lawn grass, with thick green leaf blades. It can be mowed to 3 inches, or you can let it grow to 4-8 inches tall if you don’t want to mow it at all.

We can thank bison for its turf-like growing habits. Bison learned to only eat the top young tips of the grass, leaving the roots and stems intact to grow. In other words, Buffalo Grass is quite at home with our lawnmowers.

Because Buffalo Grass has spent thousands of years in North America, it is a very hardy plant that does not require a lot of care. Buffalo grass is a great plant for people who want a low-maintenance lawn with little watering or fertilizer (did you know regular lawns take 2400% MORE TIME than native gardens?). In fact, after it’s established, experts recommend not watering it very often (watering increases the amounts of weeds like crabgrass).

Its texture can be tougher than non-native grasses—the grass blades are thicker and wider than the standard non-native seed that comes from Home Depot. But Buffalo Grass is a beautiful, native plant that adds interest and texture. It builds strong root structures, which helps the grass better withstand drought and sun, making it more resilient to withstand extreme droughts.

Pros and cons of Buffalo Grass as a lawn alternative

There are lots of reasons Buffalo Grass is great:

Buffalo grass is extremely drought-tolerant. It needs only a fraction of the water that would be required to keep a traditional, non-native lawn green. Usually you will have to water it no more than once a month.
Buffalo Grass is good for native wildlife. European turfgrass offers next to nothing to native ecosystems and even promotes pests like Japanese beetles. Buffalo Grass, however, is a haven for native insects, including grasshoppers and butterflies.
Buffalo Grass doesn’t need to be fertilized often. The runoff from constantly fertilizing a turf lawn can wind up in local waterways and damaging our ecosystems—not to mention the time and expense—so this is a plus.
Buffalo Grass doesn’t need to be mowed much (or at all). Experts recommend mowing buffalo grass only periodically. You can also find versions that top out at 4 inches tall.
Buffalo Grass has extremely deep roots. Traditional lawn roots usually go down about 6 inches. Buffalo Grass roots have been recorded going down 4-6 feet deep into the soil! In addition to making it drought-tolerant, this also means it’s great for erosion control.

There are things to keep in mind about Buffalo Grass too:

Buffalo Grass can’t handle heavy, constant foot traffic. It doesn’t mind being heavily used occasionally, or constant light traffic, but it doesn’t do well with both. So if you are playing soccer daily on your grass, you’ll probably want to keep some of it as European lawn.
Buffalo grass will turn yellow in the winter. It only grows in warm temperatures, so it will turn yellow after a hard frost and will take a little longer to green up in the spring than traditional lawn.
It can only be grown in full sun. Buffalo Grass struggles with less than 6-8 hours of sun per day.
Buffalo Grass takes some work to establish at first. You’ll have to remove existing plants, water it, and keep an eye on weeds.
It’s hard to harvest Buffalo Grass seed, so it’s a little more expensive than non-native grass seed.

Try a cultivar to make it easier

Newer types of Buffalo Grass cultivars have been introduced that work especially well as lawns. Some of the types that Colorado State Extension Service recommends include Bison, Bowie, Cody, Plains, Topgun, Legacy, Prestige, and Turffalo. Check out the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s guide to the different Buffalo Grass cultivars.

How to plant Buffalo Grass

We have some tips to deliver a resilient, drought-resitant, green Buffalo Grass lawn.

When to plant

The best time to plant Buffalo Grass is in the spring. It grows best in warm temperatures, so planting in spring means it’ll have time to establish its roots and get settled before winter. The air and soil temperatures should be about 60 degrees F to get the best sprouting. You can grow a full lawn in a single year.

Start with a clean slate

To plant Buffalo Grass, you’ll need to remove all of the plants that are already in the space. This sounds scary, but Buffalo Grass will be outcompeted by non-native grass and weeds unless you start with a clean slate. It’s OK! There are several ways to do this. Experts recommend either tilling the soil or applying an herbicide such as Roundup.

Next, buy Buffalo Grass. You can buy Buffalo Grass as seeds, as plugs (little mini-rooted plants), or as sod.

Planting tips for sod, seeds, or plugs

Sod is the easiest and fastest but most expensive. Seed is the cheapest but slowest and trickiest method. Many gardeners go with plugs, which are a little more expensive than seed but establish faster. Plant them 6 inches apart for the fastest fill-in, or up to 24 inches apart. Within 6-12 weeks, you should have a full lawn.

Plant and water Buffalo Grass, in whichever way you’ve chosen.

Give it extra care the first year

You will need to baby it a little while it gets going. In the first season, you’ll need to water it a lot—as much as you would to establish a traditional lawn. After that, though, it will require 50-75% less water than a traditional lawn.

Don’t worry if your new little plants turn brown after transplanting. Just keep watering it as usual; the root system is growing and it will bounce back in a couple of weeks.

You’ll also need to keep an eye on weeds while the Buffalo Grass gets going. You can weed by hand, or use an herbicide that is labeled for use with Buffalo Grass.

Can you mow Buffalo Grass?

Yes! After the grass is established, it can be mowed. Just like with European lawngrass, the higher you let it grow, the healthier and more drought-tolerant it will be. Experts recommend mowing it to 3-4 inches. Or you can let it grow naturally for a more meadow-like look—it will top out at about 4-8 inches, depending on the variety.

To keep it looking green, Buffalo Grass will need about an inch of water every few weeks, usually in the hottest parts of the summer. (If not watered, it’ll simply go dormant and green back up when it rains again.) If you like, you can fertilize it once a year.

Sit back and enjoy your Buffalo Grass lawn!

We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about this native alternative to European turf grass. To learn more about planting Buffalo Grass as a lawn, check out your local College Extension service. For example, Colorado State and Missouri State have thorough articles to help you. Or, learn about other native grasses and sedges. Happy planting!

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