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zoysia grass w/ shade

13 years ago

To give some background I'm from Florida and miss my St. Augustine since I moved to Northern VA. Even on nice lawns when they're wet they feel like I'm walking in sewage. I also love the way you just need to put some decent edging and the creeping grasses take care of the weeds. I thought I'd never be able to have a St Augustine style lawn until I heard about zoysia.

I know it goes dormant but I'd rather have a nice thick lawn that makes a walkable blanket than year round green. There's no need to worry about the neighbors, I've got bamboo growing around the edges of the area that's already more of a problem (I didn't plant it).

It seems as though Zenith is the best bet but I'm open to ideas. What I want to know is A. what times of the year does the grass spring up and go dormant?

B. a good part of my front lawn has a lot of trees and thus tons of shade. B. Is there anything I can do for the shade if I use zoysia?

C. My front and back lawn together are about 1800 sqft. of good sun and 900 of fairly dense shade. How quick would it spread over the area if it's only growing roughly 6 mos. a year?

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dchall_san_antonio
13 years ago
The grass in this picture is a variety of zoysia called Shadow Turf.

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The tree above that lawn is a low hanging English walnut. The yard gets only a few minutes of direct sun during the day. The grass is extremely dense and feels excellent underfoot. I took that photo because it shows how long it can take to spread. The lawn was plugged at 1 foot intervals 18 months prior to the photo. You can see in the darkest part of the yard it has not quite fully covered.

You probably have too much shade for Kentucky bluegrass. It is a sun loving grass but it also is a sod forming grass like St Augustine. You'll probably have to mail order the Shadow Turf. On the east coast look at Diamond zoysia. If I'm not mistaken it is advertised for shade.
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My first inclination is to try to reply with a thinly disguised rude response but I will try to resist. Yes my video is lacking in quality but if you think that is St Augustine you may want to have another expert check your own yard out. After owning and maintaining homes with St Augustine grass since the mid sixties not only can I identify it I can despise it as well. Shame on me for trying something different! What we planted was Zenith Zoysia seed. If anyone can tell me from the lousy video if this is what it should look like I would appreciate it. This is all I asked to begin with. I have never seen StAugustine grow in clumps or have thin pointed blades like the grass in the video. Thanks ahead of time for any helpful info. We already know that growing from seed is tough to do and are willing to spend a few years establishing this yard. We bought it because it is supposed to be drought tolerant, low maintenance, shade OK, etc. Sorry for diving into the original post but I figured anyone monitoring it would have Zoysia experience and possibly I could benefit from this.
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