Best type of GRASS for lawns in Nashville? (Memphis: how much, buying)

[CountryGirl2b=]

A neighbor who is gone most of the summer and does NOT water anything showed me his backyard lawn. GORGEOUS! He said it was some brand or name of grass and his wife had brought a couple of "plugs" to plant. It was very green and just gorgeous and they don't water it!

Any ideas? I have that creeper grass in the back and in the front very fairy like thin grass (under a tree).

Not doing anything NOW but in the future would someday like to have a nice (very small) lawn.

Thanks, as always.

(Wow, a post NOT about food!)

[hitthelinks]

Sorry, I don't have an answer for you, Country, but I am also interested in the responses of others. My front lawn is a complete mess right now. We have multiple patches where weeds have died off and left dirt patches. We've tried to plan grass and water, but no luck. This heat doesn't help it. I'm hoping to do things differently this Fall. Any lawn experts (which I am not) with best practices for appropriate timing of planting grass, fertilizing, etc. would be much appreciated!

[brentwoodgirl]

Bermuda? It's almost like a weed. It takes water to get started but it's not as hard to grow as a lot of other grasses. It's fairly standard in Memphis but most people here seem to frown on it. We have a neighbor who planted it and after trying to battle it for several years, we are considering giving up and letting it take over.
Zoysia also requires less water once it's well established, and it's prettier than Bermuda. But our friends who planted it had to do a lot of care for the first couple of years. It didn't seem worth it to us then, but now it looks great.

One word of caution about Bermuda, neighbors with other grass can get irritated if you plant it. It inflitrates all the yards around it. We are not too stressful, plus we were used to Bermuda from Memphis, so it wasn't that upsetting to us. But some of our other neighbors were really frustrated that the one person put Bermuda in their yard.

[ExIslander]

The Nashville area is tough because we're considered "transition zone," and no one grass deals perfectly with extended summer heat and drought followed up with hard-freeze winters. Because of the freezes, most people choose cool-season grasses. Bluegrass, tall fescue and zoysia are the cool-season grasses most commonly used around here. I've seen Bermuda lawns, but it's a warm-season grass and most varieties turn dead brown between the first freeze and spring.

[El Passeaux]

We just moved here about 2 months ago from Dallas, we had Bermuda in the back and St Augustine in the front. I loved the St Augustine and it spreads. Can you get that here or is the climate not right in Nashville.

[CountryGirl2b=]

I think it was Zoysia . . .

Zoysia Grass Seeds|Zoysia Grass Plugs|Types of Zoysia Grass|Zoysias.com

It LOOKS really nice. Firm, green, NO other grasses or weeds. I guess it's very aggressive once it gets going. I DO have to say it was a little firm underfoot. And this website says it is a little uncomfortable to bear feet . . (yep, keeps those big old bears out of your yard! ) . . I mean BARE feet. I think I'd rather have the soft yet weed infested grass in the back. But having a FRONT yard that was a bit more hardy would be good. I, too, have one totally bare patch and one that is green with some sort of weed (I'll take a photo).

I wonder how much it costs for a yard service to come do the yard. I think I need some topsoil. Do you have to remove the old grass or can you just build up on existing grass with topsoil and reseed or sod????

[groovamos]

Originally Posted by El Passeaux

We just moved here about 2 months ago from Dallas, we had Bermuda in the back and St Augustine in the front. I loved the St Augustine and it spreads. Can you get that here or is the climate not right in Nashville.

I've lived in Houston for 20 years and Austin twice; in both cities St Augustine is king, even though in Austin it will die quickly in mid summer without watering. I grew up in Nashville, and if I'm not mistaken, never heard of St Augustine up there, but I was young. Seems like Zoysia, Kentucky 32 Fescue, and Bermuda were what my parents were familiar with when I was a kid in Nashville. We actually had a big patch of Bermuda in the back yard of our 1-1/4 acre lot in West Meade, from which my mother would transplant plugs to the front yard, if you can believe it. I've never heard of people actually buying Bermuda down here, although it remains green during droughts like we are having right now, while St. Augustine is really in trouble in the medians and green spaces all over Houston. St. Augustine is really gorgeous, and many nurseries typically sell no other variety of grass around here.

[Dstan]

I used Scott's summer gold grass seed. My grass is still green.

[TakingTalentsToTN]

For people searching for the product mentioned below, I believe it's actuall called Scotts Southern Gold (Tall Fescue Grass Blend).

Originally Posted by Dstan

I used Scott's summer gold grass seed. My grass is still green.

[CountryGirl2b=]

Thanks TTT . . I just saw a HUGE old bag of FESCUE grass at Lowe's. I think I am going to throw some topsoil around and then throw some seed on it and see what happens.

Not in it to win any contests. Just want to have a decent looking lawn.

Will post photos of my weeds later . . . .

PS. How's it going TTT? I did find Skyline Chili at our local Krogers but just the chili, not with beans or spaghetti. MAY have found Montgomery Inn BBQ sauce at Fresh Market? But I'll check and let you know.