In Drought, Abbott [Texas (R) Gov Candidate] Keeps Lawn Green by Drilling

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22. Is that your lawn?

I've never seen such a healthy uncontaminated swath of buffalo grass except maybe at the Natural Gardener. It's certainly no miracle grass, sually weeds creep in, requiring either hand pulling or spraying with herbicides and still requires fertilizer to look good. And buffalo is drought tolerant because it turns brown when water stress sets in, like most other drought tolerant grasses. There are some bermudas that have performed better than buffalo.

http://itc.tamu.edu/documents/2008FinalReportSAWS&TPT_s.pdf

In Austin the big trend seems to be using sedge lawns in shade or small patches of grass surrounded by gravel, mulch or decomposed granite. Pam Penick (penick.net) wrote a book called Lawn Gone, which has a number of alternatives to traditional lawns. Personally my favorite choices are either to use small patches of whatever kind of grass you like best (soft zoysias are very nice) or use large flat rocks with grass only between the rocks - when it rains the water runs off the rocks to the grass, enhancing the amount of water they get in a shower.