I live in Buda and was where you were at a month ago. I went with Zoysia. I would have liked to get St. Augustine but no shade in my backyard and i also heard the same about the need for water and not good if full sun. I had several folks including a professional landscaper advise me to get zoysia. It is pricier than the others grasses.

If not zoysia, i would recommend Bermuda.

With the shade issue leaves you with only two options of SA and Zoysia. If it is moderate shade SA is the only choice, as Zoysia can only take light shade. If it is deep shade forget it.

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Here's a picture of when it was pretty green from early rains.

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and a pic of the trees

Well, you have killed almost every scrap of grass on your lawn now. dchall is dead-on for the rest.

You just made what would have taken some patience and some--not a ton--of water a task that will require now quite a bit of money, too.

yes, i realize the $ portion and being a new homeowner without any irrigation i just didn't realize the maintenance required and the harm it would do. Yes i've been neglecting the yard and shame on me and a burden to my wallet as the quotes i've been getting are around $800 for prep and install. Last year i tried watering frequently but i think it was already a lost cause with the drought and high heat ... but it's besides the point since it is dead now and has been dead for over a year.

So with that being said, starting over is it wise to get St augustine and which variety? Palmetto, Raleigh or go with Zoysia and which kind Palisades, empire, cavalier or empire? It seems like bermuda would not fair well with the two trees.

OK let's be positive. From the pictures I can tell you have enough sun to grow either SA or Zoysia. Bermuda is out of the question.

From the size of the yard in the pictures we are talking small potatoes of what looks like around 1000.ft2 so you are looking at 2 pallets of sod and no more than 3 pallets.

So get to work.

Thank you everyone for all your advice, especially the information about St. Augustine. If the price difference isn't that great i'll probably go with an Empire Zoysia.

St. Augustine, do plugs, keep it watered, mow high...

And you almost can't fail!

Get the stuff that's SAD resistant, since you're mostly starting over.

You might want to do the installation yourself an but the $$$ into an irrigation system. Texas without an irrigation system is no fun at all, especially moving around sprinklers in the high summer.

Watering frequently is only done when you are establishing new sod or new seed. Once the roots are knit into the soil, then you back off to infrequent watering. If you revert to frequent watering, then you will have all the weed seeds germinating.

Which to get, St Aug or Zoysia?
Look around your neighborhood for the successful lawns and go with the flow. I can almost guarantee you they are either bermuda (in full sun) or St Aug (full sun or shady). If you can find any successful zoysia lawns, ask the owner how long they have had it and would they do it again? Ask how often they water, mow and fertilize. I think you'll have trouble finding successful zoysia in Central to South Texas. I have a patch of zoysia but I am always in fear of it. Every week I expect it to go dormant...FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON. That's a funny thing about it. Once it goes dormant for any reason, it remains dormant no matter how much water or fertilizer you apply. I find it to be a fickle grass. But then in the spring it awakens like new. Last year my zoysia was dormant from about June 2011 through February. Since I only have a small patch it doesn't get the same care as the large part of the lawn. I've seen several zoysia lawns installed in upper middle class homes. All but one of those has converted to St Augustine before the end of the first season. The other one is going on 3 years now. Last year's drought, heat, and arid winds hit them hard, and they have a lot of weeds this year. We'll see what they do. In any case I don't consider it a pretty lawn and never have. So I'm obviously trying to persuade you to go with the grass that 99% of the non-bermuda lawns use.

most members of my block have what looks like St augustine and they're on the other side which gets morning sun and afternoon shade. My side has the morning shade and afternoon sun. Our side of the street looks like it has bermuda without large trees and some st augustine. i am fond of st aug as i think it looks a lot better.

One question about ST Aug, do you need to water it during the winter months?

So the front of your house is facing south and or west? If so, I wonder if bermuda might not do well in the part of your yard nearest the curb. Unless you plan to compete for "Yard of the Month" award, I don't offhand see why you couldn't have St. Augustine in the more shaded areas and bermuda in the sunny. You can trim it all to the same height and still have something green to walk on and choke out weeds. You could also reduce the demands on your time, long term, by greatly expanding the beds around the trees and filling them with mulch and drought tolerant ground cover--Asian jasmime, liriope and such.

Agreeing with whitecap - while bermuda looks best when it is mowed real low, it is acceptably green when mowed high. I have that experiment going on in San Antonio. My back lawn used to be all St Aug with an insignificant patch of bermuda existing against all odds in such shade. Suddenly we lost all the trees on the west side of our property and the bermuda took off. Then the drought hit and I was not there to watch the St Aug. I ended up having to put a new piece of Floratam St Aug down last year. I babied that piece and it is spreading. I am mowing at the highest setting and the bermuda is marginally acceptable. It continues to spread as does the St Augustine. If you don't mind the look of fine blades and coarse blades, then you can let them mingle.

In theory you don't need to water any grass in the winter. It is a good idea to water the SOIL, though. Your soil microbes are what keep your soil and lawn healthy. I try to water once a month with an inch of water. As an experiment several years ago I continued to water weekly all winter. Sure enough the lawn remained green and growing all winter long. I've seen that with both St Aug and with bermuda here in San Antonio. My tall grass (10 inches or more) in George West never went dormant last winter, but the area where I mowed it short in November did go dormant in January during a cold snap.

This is the third time wakko has posted this question since last August, and has been told what he needs to do.

Thank you Whitecap2.
Although they were different variations of the topic, this time it was more specific and the feedback has been more descriptive. You have provided me an alternative options like asian jasmine as well.