Have tried this variety out myself and it has a very similar growth habit to tall fescue. Developed by the University of New England apparently specifically for lawns. Although it was more likely discovered by some one.

Will make an outstanding lawn and I can't wait to see it once its established. I have a whole mixture of native grasses in my lawn.

Hopefully I will start making a small dent in the spread of exotic turf grasses as the word spreads.

I have a Microlaena lawn, in parts of my weedy mixture paddock. It makes such a lovely lawn, its so soft, and when it is mowed it mats together nicely.

Do you think it does better in shady spots ? Doe you think it needs watering every so often ?

Is this lawn going to be mowed ?

If it is left to seed it is very pretty, so soft and delicate.

Have you tried Oplismenus sp ? Another structurally pleasing native grass, that grows at different angles creating an interesting patch.

Gardening Aust. had a bit about native plants last week.

Just one more question....did you create the lawn from seed ?

Popi

It may require occassional watering if we have a particularly hot and dry summer. Even if it does brown off a bit for a while over summer Microlaena always comes back as soon as it rains.

But this is unlikely because the area is shaded in summer and the soil was relatively moist 20cm under the surface. The surface was very dry indeed because of the surface roots of the Oak tree and this was obviously what was killing off all the other shallow rooted turf varieties the people had tried.

Griffin Microlaena has a very similar growth habit to Tall Fescue.

When you say seed...did you just collect heaps of seed, and then broadcast it at the site ? How long did it take to germinate ?

Microlaena normally grows in low lying areas with heavy clay or silty soils that are likely to be moister on average. The moisture I am refering to is found several centimetres or more below the surface. Ttop few centimetres is rather irrelevant to Microlaena given that its roots penetrate at least 30cm into the sub-soil.

If you have planted it on a sloped area or in sandy or rocky soils then it is not surprising that it did not do well.

A better choice would have been Bothriochloa macra or red leg grass which I have seen thriving on very dry rocky hill sides in Bulla - Victoria. The roots of this species have been recorded at reaching a depth of 1.2m. The same company also sells a variety of this species for lawns.

Microlaena is a winter grass and goes dormant in particularly hot dry weather where as Bothriochloa is a summer grass and goes dormant (and turns red) in winter. What you could have done is mixed the two in your lawn. Microlaena would have been active and green in the cooler moister weather over winter and Bothriochloa in the drier hotter weather over summer.

I have never seen it growing naturally in the generally damper areas where you find Microlaena.

Have a look at the Bothriochloa lawn here:

Native Seeds is working on other varieties of Microlaena such as 'Tasman'. Not sure where that variety hales from, presumably Tasmania.

The best thing is how I was told to prepare my bare site for planting by Native Seeds: rake of my clay soil lightly to put in some grooves, spread the seed by hand and then all I have to do is keep the soil moist until seeds germinate. Periodic watering is all that is needed at most after that. If I need seed I'll let the seed heads grow, collect and resow.