Sixweeks fescue

Year-round

Sixweeks fescue is a tiny annual desert grass that sprouts with fall and winter rain, grows low through the cooler months, then flowers and dies back by early summer.

• This is a true annual grass. It grows from seed each year and does not come back as a perennial clump the way many bunchgrasses do.
• It sprouts after fall and winter rain and stays low and grassy through the cooler months.
• It flowers and sets seed in spring, then dries out and dies back on its own by early summer once the heat sets in.
• It prefers full sun and coarse, sandy or gravelly soil, and it does not need supplemental water once it has sprouted from rain.
• It is not on the ASPCA's toxic or non-toxic plant lists, so there is no official read on whether it is a problem for dogs and cats. Treat any grass a pet chews on a lot with normal caution.
• It spreads by dropping its own seed, so a patch tends to come back on its own the next rainy season without replanting.

Fall

Fall is germination time. The first real rain of the season wakes up seed that has been sitting in the soil since last spring.

• Watch for tiny grass-like seedlings after the first good fall rain. That is this grass starting its new year.
• No planting or watering needed if it already grew in your yard before. It grows from its own dropped seed.
• Clearing out old dead thatch left from last summer first helps new seedlings get sunlight and keeps the bed looking intentional rather than neglected.
• If you want a fuller patch, avoid disturbing bare, sandy soil where seed may already be sitting and waiting.
• Cooler fall temperatures in the Palm Springs area are what let this grass germinate at all. It will not sprout in summer heat.

Clearing last summer's dried thatch before fall germination gives new grass room to fill in and keeps the yard from looking neglected in the meantime.

Winter

Winter is this grass's main growing season, staying low, green, and grassy through the cooler months.

• Growth is slow and steady through winter. No mowing is needed since it naturally stays short.
• No supplemental water needed in a normal rain year. Only step in with light watering during a stretch of unusually dry winter weather.
• The low, tidy green tufts it forms in winter are its neatest look all year.
• Skip fertilizer. It grows this way naturally in lean desert soil.
• Frost is rarely a problem in the low desert around Palm Springs, so freezing weather is not something to plan around for this grass.

Its low, even winter growth habit is naturally tidy for a front-yard bed, with no extra grooming needed to keep it looking neat.

Spring

Spring is when this little grass is at its fullest, with thin seed heads topping short green tufts before it dries out for the year.

• No need to water it. It is finishing its life cycle on the rain that already fell over fall and winter.
• You will see small seed heads by mid to late spring. The 'octoflora' in its name refers to the flowers packed into each tiny spikelet.
• Skip fertilizer. It is built to grow fast and light in lean desert soil, not to be fed.
• As days heat up later in spring, the blades will start turning tan and dry. That is the normal end of its cycle, not a sign of a problem.
• Let some seed drop before you tidy up if you want a patch to return again next winter.

Summer

By summer in the low desert around Palm Springs, this grass has already finished its short life and dried out for the year.

• By early summer the plant is dead and tan colored. That is the natural end of its six to eight week growing burst, not something you did wrong.
• There is nothing to water or feed. Its live growing season is already over.
• If the dry, straw colored patches bother you out front, you can cut or rake them back for a tidier look.
• Leaving a little seed litter in place helps a new patch sprout again when fall rain returns.
• Extreme low desert summer heat, regularly 100 to 115 degrees, is exactly why this grass avoids summer altogether by dying back before it hits.

Raking or trimming back the dried, straw colored patches keeps a front yard looking tended instead of weedy once the grass has died back for the season.