Turfgrass Comparison Chart

Uses

• Lawns - Lawns can range from residential to commercial with many variations. Most lawns are maintained by people who are not lawn care professionals although many high end applications are professionally maintained.
• Golf and Sports - Most golf and sports applications are professionally maintained to support the traffic and other use constraints imposed in the application.

Zone

Patten Seed and Super Sod have developed our own U.S. Zone Map that simplifies the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map into five zones for the purpose of turfgrasses. Why would we do this? Because turfgrasses are generally applicable to broader ranges of temperatures than flowers, shrubs, trees and other plants. Rather than always referring to a grass as hardy in zones x,y and z we've widened the zones to make it easier to work with.

• Zone 1 - This zone includes lower coastal North Carolina, coastal South Carolina, coastal and south Georgia, all of Florida, and lower and coastal sections of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. This zone should use the Hot Climate Grasses which include Bermuda, Bahia, Centipede, Carpet, St. Augustine and Zoysia.
• Zone 2 - This zone goes north of Zone 1 and includes north coastal North Carolina, much of central South Carolina, central Georgia, north and central Alabama, northern Louisiana, south west Tennessee, all except the most northern part of Arkansas, most of central Texas and the southern portion of Oklahoma. This zone should use a limited set of the Hot Climate Grasses including Bermuda, Centipede and Zoysia
• Zone 3 - This zone covers much of the middle U.S. including parts of New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, western North Carolina, western Tennessee, western Kentucky, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, southern Missouri, southern Kansas, northern Oklahoma, northern Texas, most of New Mexico, southern Arizona and most of coastal California. This zone should use Cool Season Grasses including Tifway Bermuda, Meyer Zoysia and Zenith Zoysia.
• Zone 4 - This zone covers a band of the upper central U.S. including parts of Rhode Island and Connecticut, a small portion of southern New York, northern New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, eastern West Virginia, northern Virginia, east Tennessee, central Kentucky, most western Ohio, northern Indiana, southern Michigan, northern Illinois, southern Iowa and northern Missouri, southern Nebraska and northern Kansas, central Colorado, northwest New Mexico, northern Arizona, southeast Utah, the southern tip of Nevada, much of central California, coastal Oregon and south coastal Washington. This zone should use Cool Season Grasses including Meyer Zoysia and Zenith Zoysia.
• Zone 5 - This zone covers the upper U.S. north of Zone 4 and should use Cool Season Grasses.

Shade Tolerance

Shade tolerance is the ability of a turf to survive and provide the intended cover of grass. Shade tolerance for lawn use usually means St. Augustine, Tall Fescue, Zoysia or Centipede. Bermudagrasses have little or no shade tolerance to perform as bermudas.

Shade has to do with the density of shade (how much sunlight is blocked) and length of shaded time. Full sun implies that the application is not shaded at all or very little throughout the day. Partial shade typically refers to light shade for a short time during the day. Tree shade also varies depending on the species of tree. For example, pine is lighter shade than typical deciduous shade. An important point to remember is that only dense shade is a true limiting factor to successful lawn maintenance.

Water Requirements

The correct watering regimen is more than just how much time and/or money you spend watering your lawn - it contributes to the short and long term health of the lawn. Frequent light watering causes shallow roots which may not be able to find enough water for the lawn in a drought. Too much water can invite insects and diseases. Find out more about lawn care in The Encyclopedia of Lawn Grasses and our brochure on How and When to Water Your Lawn.

Maintenance Level

Maintenance refers to mowing, fertilizing, dethatching, weeding and other lawn care jobs. The Turfgrass Comparison Chart Maintenance Level means to display an overall impression of how much maintenance each variety needs for a healthy lawn, golf course or sports field application. For more information on grass varieties and maintenance refer to The Encyclopedia of Lawn Grasses and the various Grass Seed and Sod Grass pages.