What Type of Grass to Plant

Is your grass just not growing well? You’ve done it all; watered it well, mowed frequently, fertilized quarterly, perhaps even strummed a few tunes on your guitar to coax it into growing better. If you’ve done all of this, then you probably need a different grass type.

Southern Grasses (Warm Season):

Here are a few good grasses for the south:

Bermuda: Hardy, drought and traffic tolerant grass. This grass is creeping, and requires low to medium maintenance.

Zoysia: Extremely drought tolerant, medium traffic tolerance, thick low-to-ground creeping profile. Low to Medium maintenance.

Far South: Centipedegrass Very low maintenance, slow growing rate, broad and thick leaves. WARNING: Will die in hard freezes, not recommended above South Carolina and similar latitude.

Northern Grasses (Cool Season):

Fescue Grass: Arguably the most commonly found grass, fescue is a fast growing, low to medium maintenance grass that is mildly drought tolerant and has good traffic tolerance. It grows in most of the US, and many varieties are available.

    Tall Fescue: Most frequently found variety, has wider leaves and grows straighter than Fine Fescue.

    Fine Fescue: Thin, wiry leaves. Must be sowed thickly, as each grass plant is small. When grown right, Fine Fescue is like a carpet and is tolerant of mostly everything.

Kentucky Bluegrass: Found across the globe, Kentucky Bluegrass is a large, wide grass that has good traffic tolerance and requires medium maintenance. Unlike most Cool Season grasses, Kentucky Bluegrass is creeping. For this reason, it is often included in grass seed blends for it’s “Filling – In” effect. 

Bentgrass: Arguably the most picky, yet beautiful grass. This grass requires high maintenance (Mowing every other day, watering daily, fertilizing many times a year etc.) It is frequently used on golf course putting areas, as it can withstand extremely low mowing height and is as thick as a carpet.

Transition Grasses:

Basically, if you live in a transition zone, you will need to pick from one of the Northern or Southern Grasses. Here’s a little advice on how: If you are someone who prefers their lawn to be lushest in the summer, go with a southern grass. If you are a spring, fall and winter lawn junky, go with a northern grass. This is because, in your environment it is likely that at a certian time of year either type of grass will go brown.

I hope this guide helps you to pick out your grass type!