Prairie Grasses for the Urban Landscape

The high environmental costs of maintaining golf §courses, home lawns and public areas has created a §tremendous interest in developing low-maintenance §turfgrasses. Most research, however, has §concentrated on the traditional turfgrasses such as §Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) and fescue §species (Festuca spp.). The grasses native to §western Canada and the north central USA have not §been well researched, but they may provide the §ultimate low maintenance turfgrasses for the prairie §region. Prairie grasses have the advantage of §evolving under the environmental extremes of North §America and should be perfect candidates for low §maintenance turf. This book explores the suitability §of prairie grasses not only for low-maintenance §turf, but also its suitability in saline and drought §prone turf areas. It will also investigate the §environmental benefits and historical evolution of §using native plants in North American urban design. §This book should be especially useful for turfgrass §researchers, urban planners or anyone else who may §be interested in utilizing prairie grasses in the §urban landscape.