What is your objective? Why are you going with buffalo rather than hybrid bermuda or St Augustine? Is the area full sun? I hear about Habiturf. It seems to be a little dicey to get started, but once in, it performs as advertised. The seeded buffalo grass is not going to be all female. In fact it would probably be a little leggy with very tall male and female flower stems that make it look shaggy in a week after mowing. I'm not sure blue grama will thrive in Phoenix. Have you asked around about that? If so, then you should be able to mix it like you are suggesting in with the Legacy buffalo. Have you seen Tech Turf from the Turffalo company? It is a hybrid buffalo that has both male and female, but it is better behaved than most. By that I mean the seed stalks grow at about the same rate as the grass itself, so it never looks shaggy. But since the seed and flowers are brown, it has that brown cast to it. Also Tech Turf grows very dense. Most buffalo is a thin turf and prone to weeds. Tech Turf is not. It spreads much faster, too. Here are two pictures of Tech Turf from Lubbock, TX. The first is mowed at 3/4-inch every week. The second is mowed to 2.5 inches, but as you can see, not very often. But that second pic gives you an idea of how dense it can get. Those runners are trying like mad to spread. The second one was probably 5 inches high and had not been mowed for 3 weeks. A normal buffalo grass would have had seed stalks standing up 10 inches or so in that time.

Esh, I just don't wanna be too hard on your brain!! I have ordered a few more native plant books. I have the Foote book but I find it difficult because it lists just about everything, garden "worthy" (for a city garden, that is) or not. I like the idea of the lyrata sage. I have it in quite a few places, and I don't have purple in this area anywhere and could sure use it. Plus, this is care free as it multiplies on it's own! That is a good article. I would like to grow pussytoes. I've tried a few of the other things listed in this good article, and they did not sruvive for me....galax, pussytoes, partridgeberry - what do they really like? I thought I had found great places for them, but I guess not. GGG

That could work. I'll share my thought/experience in case it could be of some use to you or anyone else who visits this forum. One option would be to sow seeds in a small raised bed over the winter and then transplant the seedlings as they come up in the spring into the plug trays or directly where you want them to grow. Personally I like to start seeds in a flat or directly in the garden and then move the seedlings to pots as I get more uniform results that way. When starting the seeds in plugs you can end up with a lot of empty cells if the germination rate is low. With flats you can sow hundreds of seeds and only keep the ones you need. I have had a few species where only 1-5% were viable, so if they had been started in cells or pots it would have been a bust. Most grasses can be kept dry in the fridge until ready to plant out in the spring or early summer. For some species germination rates may be a little higher if given cold stratification and some like sweet grass require it. Wrapping them up and putting them in the shed might be problematic if the seeds start germinating early. I start a lot of native seeds indoors in pots for planting out in the spring. I do the stratification on moistened paper towel placed in little clear plastic bags and put those in the crisper. After 60 days or so I check them occasionally for germination. If the seed is really small it can be difficult to get them off the paper towel but it can be done with a spray bottle onto a white plate (so you can see them). This year I had seeds stratifying through late spring and planted some out directly. Some of the species that prefer full sun perform best if sown directly into the garden.

I do check with Clothier's data on seed germination, it is helpful. A method that I came up with myself and use for germinating seed of prairie wiildflowers and grasses is to cover the seed once it is sown with a coarser perlite rather than a peat based germ mix which seems to smother the seed. This method is used for seed that requires a covering, some seeds need to remain uncovered and exposed to light for germination. I found that Sporobolus heterolepis (Prairie Dropseed) doesn't germinate at all when lightly covered with a peat based media - I got a few to germ that were left uncovered but I get high germ when the seed is lightly and evenly covered with perlite after it is sown. This tells me that prairie species need more gas exchange or exposure to the air while at the same time being covered so the seed is protected and does not dry out. I wouldn't worry too much about your seed germinating early in the fridge, I have Dictamnus albus and eryngium sprouting now in the seed trays that are in my refrigerator - the mice kept getting them in my garage - the cold temps will keep them from growing much and they will be taken out of the fridge in late March or early April to go out into a cold greenhouse to continue growing. Keep in mind that seed that requires stratification for germination can not be hurried along with warm temps! We aren't growing marigolds or petunias here. If you see no activity after you might expect to see signs of life, keep the seed colder longer rather than warming them up - most seeds will start to sprout while still chilled and germ best while at cool temperatures. Again, good luck! I wanted to add that some varieties that require stratification do only start to 'wake up' and grow once the temps warm up, like morz8 said - but not too warm - temps in the low 60's are better than say mid 70 or 80 degrees. Try to avoid quick extremes and no need for additives like wood ash or innoculants for germination - I've never used GA-3 myself and don't really see a need for it. There is no secret incantation or method that will make this process go much faster, it is one of those things that takes time. 'Tricky' things - violet species for example - germinate for me better when they are placed in a coldframe outside because the rain and snow are washing out the germination inhibitors that keep the seed from growing at the wrong time. That is my educated guess. I remember that when I grew Callirhoe involucrata from seed the germination was very erratic, seedlings slowly germinating in an outdoor seed bed for more than three years! This post was edited by jebfarm on Sun, Dec 28, 14 at 13:58