In a perfect world, I would have buffalo grass because it takes less water
and when it receives enough it is beautiful blowing in the wind. It actually
looks like surf moving towards a beach. However, life is not perfect. In my
first home, they sodded buffalo grass (I forget which variety), but once
homeowners on either side of me planted St. Augustine, over a period of
several years it encroached onto the buffalo until half my yard was each.
Buffalo is also more susceptible to weeds and trails are easily created..
I had originally planned to put out a pallet of buffalo grass in the
backyard, then I came home one day and my wife told me she was pregnant.
Instead of a $400 pallet of buffalo, I went with a bag of really "good"
bermuda. It worked fine for kids and dogs.
I understand escapee's gardener's perspective. To paraphrase, "one man's
grass is another man's weed." Much as I like Bermuda "in the yard", I hate
it in the flower and vegetable beds. Thank goodness for cheap mulch.
So, to recap, I recommend bermuda if you want the traditional grassy yard.
It doesn't require as much water as the St. Aug yard I have now, and it
doesn't have trails worn in it as easily as buffalo. If you do plant
buffalo, make sure that your neighbors' grasses don't encroach upon it. Use
beds or edging to keep them apart.
BTW, a prior poster recommended putting down wood chips in the interim.
I wish I had done that. I moved into my yard in March of that year. By May,
the weeds had taken over the topsoil in the backyard. I pulled nearly all of
them by hand, and it wasn't pretty or fun.