Green lawns all year? (Huntsville: garden, rating, golf course)

[Charles]

Can lawns be kept green all year? In Colorado lawns go dormant brown from like Oct to April. In DC, I saw green lawns and flowers in February. In LA they are always green but you don't have to mow from Oct-April or so.

What about blooming flowers or annuals or perennials? Are people in Huntsville successful with these? I would expect the insects to lay off during the winter - less insectide needed for plants.

[HsvMike]

Most of the grass in the Hsv area will go dormant through the winter months. Some people do have grass that will stay green throughout the year but you will have to water like crazy in the summer to keep it from burning up. Bermuda is great in the summer and takes a lot less water to look great.

[NicoleC]

Alabama is great for winter gardening -- no bugs. Many plants here will last all or most of the summer, unfortunately most of those plants can't begin to tolerate the heat. Same thing with grasses. For ornamentals there is little need to mess with chemicals if you plant hardy and resistant varieties, which are typically the old favorites around town.

My "lawn" stays more-or-less green all year, although not as bright as it is in summer. But my lawn is really pasture and mixed weeds. There is some grass in there, though. The Bermuda is just starting to wake up.

[Reactionary]

Most lawns are fescue or Bermuda grass. Fescue grasses stay green all year, but as Mike noted, they suffer in the Summer heat. Bermuda goes dormant in Winter, but is widely used here because it is drought / heat tolerant.

HSV is great for gardening.

April 15 is frost-free date and the growing season lasts until about Halloween.

Even though HSV is one of the wetter areas in the US (even with the drought), we basically have a rainy season (Winter / Spring) and a dry season (Summer / Fall). This means that having drought tolerant and heat resistant plants is required in order to survive August and September.

The Botanical Garden frequently offers classes; in April they provide free classes daily at lunch (topics include: crapemyrtles, native plants, butterfly gardens, water features, etc) - Friday's (5/11) topic is "Foliage / Grasses in the Landscape".

Huntsville Botanical Garden

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Reactionary

Fescue grasses stay green all year,

Glad to read this.

I remember flying into HSV last winter and noticed the brown golf course lawn. I guess either it was Bermuda or just not watered. People were playing golf.

[Reactionary]

It's Bermuda, smoother playing surface plus grows quickly plus drought tolerant.

[nalabama]

You can overseed bermuda with fescue (use red fescue inside the shade line) and then let them battle it out every spring. You'll still need to overseed each fall with fescue, but the seed requirements will be greatly reduced compared to the first overseeding. Or you can just overseed each fall with annual rye (we call it winter rye around here) and let the heat kill it off in late spring. To me, it's worth it--there's something about having a green lawn year-round that cheers my soul. And the dead rye or any fescue you lose is good for your soil as well.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by nalabama

You can overseed bermuda with fescue (use red fescue inside the shade line) and then let them battle it out every spring. You'll still need to overseed each fall with fescue, but the seed requirements will be greatly reduced compared to the first overseeding. Or you can just overseed each fall with annual rye (we call it winter rye around here) and let the heat kill it off in late spring. To me, it's worth it--there's something about having a green lawn year-round that cheers my soul. And the dead rye or any fescue you lose is good for your soil as well.

This is a post worth noting. Good info. Thank You.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by nalabama

You can overseed bermuda with fescue (use red fescue inside the shade line) and then let them battle it out every spring. You'll still need to overseed each fall with fescue, but the seed requirements will be greatly reduced compared to the first overseeding. Or you can just overseed each fall with annual rye (we call it winter rye around here) and let the heat kill it off in late spring. To me, it's worth it--there's something about having a green lawn year-round that cheers my soul. And the dead rye or any fescue you lose is good for your soil as well.

Revisiting this....I read up and looks like perennial rye is recommended. In October we need to mow the bermuda down really low and perhaps aerate. Wait a month after aerating and then overseed with the perennial rye. There are a few recommended fertilizer applications too.

Overseeding with Ryegrass

[Reactionary]

Charles - if you want a year-round green grass, Ken Creel (Alabama Extension) recommends St. Augustine grass, shade and drought tolerant, there are some new varieties that are more cold tolerant than in the past. Creel discourages fescue for this area because of the Summer heat and normal Summer drought.

Note that mowing the Bermudagrass 'really low' is not recommended - you should actually let it grow higher as Winter approaches (according to Steve Dobbs, author of "The Perfect Alabama Lawn"). Same for any grass under stress (drought, shade, &c).

If you overseed Bermudagrass with ryegrass, do not fertilize it because it may harm the Bermudagrass (interfers with the dormacy, leads to brown spots in the Spring). I understand that the advice from Dobbs conflicts with the advice from Clemson regarding fertilizing (it probably is good for the ryegrass). I'll note that the Dobbs book has an endorsement and foreword written by Felder Rushing (the most famous horticulturist in the South).