An Overview of Grass Seed Types

If you are about to plant a new lawn, the number of different grass seed types might overwhelm you. How do you go about narrowing your options? The first thing you should decide is whether you live in an environment for a warm-season grass or a cool-season grass.

Warm-season grasses are extremely heat tolerant but quickly go dormant at cooler temperatures. Cool-season grasses thrive in the cold, but they will need lots of irrigation to stay green in rising summer temperatures. Once you determine which kind of grass will do better in your climate, you can pick a grass seed type based on your needs and preferences.

Warm-Season Grasses

Bermuda grass: Bermuda grass is very drought tolerant and traffic tolerant. It won’t need frequent irrigations, and can grow in a variety of soils, from sandy to clay. It has very little shade tolerance or cold tolerance, and needs direct sunlight to grow.

Buffalo grass: Buffalo grass is one of the lowest maintenance lawns available for the home. It is very drought tolerant, and can endure some cold temperatures, although it will go dormant during the winter. It also cannot tolerate shade or heavy foot traffic. It can grow in a variety of soils, but prefers more clay than sand.

Zoysia grass: Zoysia grass is drought tolerant, but it has the tendency to go dormant quickly if it goes without water for too long. It can endure heavy foot traffic and some shade. It grows in a variety of soils, but needs adequate drainage in order to thrive.

Cool-Season Grasses

Fine fescue grass: Fine fescue grass is really an umbrella term for a group of grasses including sheep fescue, red fescue, hard fescue, and chewings fescue. Fine fescues are great for shaded areas and need very little maintenance. They tolerate moderate foot traffic, do not need to be watered frequently, and can grow in a variety of soils.

Kentucky bluegrass: Kentucky bluegrass is slow to establish, but it grows into a beautiful and traffic tolerant lawn. It needs to be grown in loamy soil, and will quickly go dormant during the summer if not watered frequently, even daily. It can tolerate some shade.

Perennial ryegrass: Perennial ryegrass has the quickest establishment rate of any grass species. It has a very high traffic tolerance, so it is a good choice for a recreational yard. It will need frequent irrigating during the summer and should be planted in rich, loamy soil. It can tolerate partial shade.

Tall fescue grass: Tall fescue grass is very drought tolerant and will need infrequent but deep irrigations. Although it has a slow establishment, it does not require significant maintenance, and can grow in sandy to clay-like soil. It also has a partial tolerance for shade.

Nature’s Finest Seed offers premium grass seed for each of the above species as well as blends that are designed to increase your lawn’s tolerance for different environments. They are a great resource for finding the right type of grass for your lawn.