by Sally Casey, April 1999
| Full Sun Grasses | |||
| Scientific Name | Common Name | Blooms | Comments |
| Danthonia californica | California Wild Oat Grass | Apr - June | To 40", generally 2½' to 3' |
| Danthonia californica americana | Hairy California Wild Oat Grass | Apr - May | Shorter than species; hairy sheath |
| Festuca idahoensis | Blue Bunch Grass | Apr - June | To 40"; generally lower; open panicle |
| Festuca rubra | Red Fescue | May - June | To 40"; open panicle |
| Hordeum brachyantherum | Meadow Barley | Apr - June | To 28"; inflorescence a spike |
| Koeleria macrantha | June Grass | Apr - June | To 24"; inflorescence an interrupted spike |
| Melica californica | Western Melica | Mar - June | To 52"; generally 3'; dies down in summer |
| Nessella cernua | Nodding Needle Grass | Apr - May | To 3'; inflorescence more delicate than N. pulchra |
| Nesella pulchra | Purple Needle Grass | Mar - June | To 40"; generally 2½' to 3' |
| Poa secunda secunda | Pine Bluegrass | Feb - May | To 40"; generally 24" |
| Partial Sun - Shade Grasses | |||
| Scientific Name | Common Name | Blooms | Comments |
| Bromus carinatus | California Brome Annual - Biennial | Mar - July | 40" - 48"; open panicle |
| Elymus californicus | California Bottle Brush Grass | May - July | To 80"; generally 6' |
| Melica imperfecta | Small Flowered Melica | Mar - June | To 44"; generally 24" - 30"; inflorescence open |
| Melica torreyana | Torrey's Melica | Mar - July | To 40"; generally lower, spreading; inflorescence strict |
| Muhlenbergia rigens | Deergrass | June - Sept | Leaves to 2½' to 3'; spiked inflorescence to 5'; dramatic |
| Shade Grasses | |||
| Scientific Name | Common Name | Blooms | Comments |
| Bromus laevipes | Woodland Brome Grass | May - July | To 3'; generally lower; inflorescence folded hand |
| Deschampsia elongata | Slender Hair Grass | May - July | Low tuft, inflorescence to 40", generally lower |
| Festuca californica | California Fescue | Mar - May | 3' +; open panicle |
| Festuca occidentalis | Western Fescue | Apr - July | To 40"; generally lower; open panicle |
| Hierochloe occidentalis | California Vanilla Grass | Jan - May | To 36"; generally lower |
| Melica geyeri | Geyer's Onion Grass | Mar - July | To 80"; generally 4'; bulbous base |
| Melica subulata | Alaska Onion Grass | Mar - July | To 48"; bulbous base |
| Trisetum canescens | Tall Trisetum | May - Aug | To 32" |
| With one exception (Muhlenbergia rigens), all of the above grasses are found between Route 280 and Skyline. Muhlenbergia rigens grows from Monterey County south, in the central valley, the foothills of and in the Sierra Nevada mountains east to Texas and into Mexico.
CULTURE: Plant 4" or gallon can size in late fall just before the rains. Use compost (but no fertilizer) as a mulch. March is the second-best planting time. SOURCES: Most of the common names and blooming periods are taken from Thomas' Flora of the Santa Cruz Mountains of California; heights are from Munz' A California Flora; modified heights are my local observations. |
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