Frogfruit, frogfruit, everywhere there's frogfruit!
What is frogfruit?
It's a grass that is native to the southern portion of North America. It spreads from coast to coast, then south from Oklahoma into Mexico. It was here before us and was the most common grass before the US decided to turn our yards into pretty lawns.
Frogfruit works best in full sun, but will survive in partial shade - if the tenderals will wonder in that direction and live, then so be it. This native grass has a counterpart - horseherb. Horseherb grows in mostly shade, but can tolerate sun - again, if the tenderals wonder in that direction and can survive, then it was meant to be. Both are also pollinator plants - you guessed it, they flower all summer long.
In my yard, I do not have enough shade, I'm in sun 6+ hours a day. so frogfruit is my choice of native grass for now.
Here's some background on this little patch of sunshine. I live in north TX (USA) and my yard is primarily of clay origin. I decided to throw down some cardboard, spread a bag of mulch and planted a 4 inch container of this juicy little plant. That was in May of 2023. I watered it 3x a week during the summer with the alloted times set aside for water restrictions and I didn't mow it that first summer.
Now look at it!
She spread her tenderils in all the right directions, she has stretched to both garden borders and is making her way around the wheelbarrow/container garden. I'm trying to nudge her more into the middle of the yard now. I've tried propagating this little plant so that I can plant plugs around my yard and help it spread some more and also move some of the plugs to the front yard for certain areas to grow. I will admit that propogating them is not as easy as the many YouTube clips say it is. So far I'm 1 out of 10 in the success rate. But I'll keep trying.
So if you live in the southern portion of the US/northern Mexico, give this little plant a try for a traditional lawn alternative.
