Pull over, take a few photos.

Doing that couldn't be worse than what I did this weekend. I was on a nice bike ride with my family along the local bike path. The path cuts through woods, along a small stream/river, and past the back yards of many homes. It is miles and miles long. At one point in the bike ride, I stopped my family and remarked about how green this one guys' back yard was. My wife was like, "Let's go already!" but I kept mentioning that his lawn looked so green that it might be fake turf....Well, this afternoon, I set out to find the roadway that led to the guy's house so that I could see if it as real. It was. Considering the guy had a little string outlining his front lawn so no one would walk on it, I wouldn't be surprised if he reads this board.

Thanks rutgers! So what are some type of grass(other than KBG) that greens up early, drought and disease resistant and can withstand traffic? That lawn I mentioned above was able to withstand the cool weather too this year. The winter was horrible.

Can someone please name those type of grass that are candidates for what I am looking for?

Thanks.

A picture won't help. You'll have to pull some of the grass and then photograph its parts from up close so we can see every grain, hair, and all its portions. Would be much easier to pull some grass and take the samples to your local extension service to identify. But, I am doubting just the early green-up is indicative of any particular species. I'm thinking three weeks ago was way early, as in almost unbelievably early. The answer more likely lies in his late season fertilizing. It's not beyond me to knock on his door and have a chat. Is it beyond you?

Yes, it's not really in our neighborhood. It's like 20 miles from my house and about 10 miles from my office. :( I'll see what I can do. His front door is on the other and I'm afraid they have a security gate. If I park my car in one of the garden store near that house and walk to his house on the side, I might get hit by a car since the 2 lane road is really tight. I'll be passing the place tomorrow again. We'll see. :)

Poa Supina has a brighter green color and is supposed to have early green-up. Its not drought tolerant, but has probably the best available traffic tolerance.

Poa Supina has a brighter green color and is supposed to have early green-up. Its not drought tolerant, but has probably the best available traffic tolerance.

I did some research about it and looks like a good seed to mix with MAG3 but just at small percentage for my shady area.

looks like a good seed to mix with MAG3

Uhhhh...I'd get Bestlawn's opinion about that, because I don't think the colors are going to match at all.

Inevitably, some areas will get more P. supina, others more P. pratensis and you're going to have uneven patches. I would expect this to be worst in the shady areas and the wetter ones, but I'm not an expert at species mixing like that.

Particularly when the two species are a radically different color and have different habits.

Thanks for the advice. I'll wait for bestlawn's advice too.

Just got home. Here are the pics which I took this morning. Then on my way home, I pulled few blades. Actually, there were 2 lawns(different areas) that I really like. They are green now. I remember they were green even at the peak of our summer but were not dense. So please help me id them.

First pics are from Dundee Rd, Algonquin.

{{gwi:86603}}

{{gwi:86604}}

here are the close-ups of what I pulled
{{gwi:86605}}

{{gwi:86606}}

{{gwi:86607}}

{{gwi:86608}}

and this is the one near my office
{{gwi:86609}}

My last fall seeded TTTF stayed bright green all winter. I felt really ridiculous with bright green grass poking up through snow while all my neighbors had dull brown lawns, but there ya go.
I did nothing special to cause it to do that- just seeded, watered, then winterized. I have no idea what's going on, or why it didn't brown down some- it stayed as bright a green as it was three weeks after we seeded it.

Need to see the collar

{{gwi:86610}}

My guess is Annual Rye, aka Italian Rye.

It is commonly grown along roadsides and will reseed itself. (Strangely enough, I learned recently it can create hybrid plants with perennial rye grass.)

Just in case anyone wants more information on hybrid rye grass. (You probably don't want to use it in your lawn...

Hybrid rye-grass

Clear identification of rye-grasses is further confused by the fact that where plants of both Italian and perennial rye grass co-exist, the two species readily hybridize. The resulting hybrids may have a combination of characteristics from both Italian and perennial rye-grass. For example they may have either awned or awnless spikelets. The leaf blades of such hybrids are usually rolled within the shoot, similar to those for Italian rye-grass.

These hybrid plants can be annual, biennial or short-lived perennials. Most hybrids produce rapid and leafy growth and are therefore similar to Italian rye-grass in this respect.

I concur with turf toes.

Perennial and Annual Ryegrass have the tolerance to work at lower soil temperatures, as a result, they're the first ones to green up in the spring. In mild winter areas, they stay green all winter long.

The bright green color is definatelly Annual Rye. Perennial Rye is dark green, fine bladed, it resembles bluegrass quite well.

Hi Mallory,

This is the closest my camera can get. Thanks.

{{gwi:86611}}

cearbhaill,

How's your winter compared to chicago? How did your TTTF perform during the hottest summer? Are there many cultivars of TTTF?

Is it ok to mix TTTF with MAG3?

Cearbhaill, I expect it was your winterizer application of fertilizer that kept the grass green. That coupled with the likelihood your varieties exhibit good winter color.

Turf Toes, I think we need a concensus. My guess is the one on the left is KBG, and oddly enough the one on the right is trivialis. I checked here. I don't think it's Italian Rye for lack of auricles, but I can't tell for sure by the picture in your link.

Ron, Mag 3 gives you very good PM protection. You want to plant either TTTF or KBG. Not both.

I'm sorry Mallory, I should have mentioned it. Both pieces came from same source. The one on the right is just about to open or it coiled itself up because I left it last night in the garage. It was pretty cold there.

It's very possible to have different grasses in the lawn since many are mixed, like bluegrass and fescue. This would be just as likely to have bluegrass (or any other species) along with a weed like Poa trivialis. So we can be more certain, you might want to get some more samples. LOL

Ok. Those 2 came from single root. I will do my best to get more samples. :D

The third picture from top to bottom, the grass on the right looks very much like an old cultivar of bluegrass. The tip of the blade has the boat shape that bluegrass is uniquely known for, plus the lighter green color is consistant with older cultivars of kentucky bluegrass. Older cultivars do green up much quicker than the newer, elite types.

I say it's an older cultivar of kentucky bluegrass, ie Kenblue or something along those lines.

Here is an update folks. My local extension ID'd it as Tall Fescue.

{{gwi:86612}}
They don't look anything like this.
I don't know what to think.

Not really sure why they ID'd it as tall fescue. Her description about Tall Fescue is that they're like weeds when combined with KBG. {{gwi:86613}} hehehe.

So, looks like I'm going back to MAG3. {{gwi:86613}} However, I really need something that is powdery mildew resistant. morpheuspa mentioned that with his new MAG3, he still encountered powdery mildew. Anyways, I saw this table although not all KBG cultivars, but it actually helped me a lot. I can't believe how awesome bedazzled is.

Those are all KBG in that test rating.

Yeah, Bedazzled really is awesome and exibits good performance in practically all areas of adaptation. One of Turf Merchants' competitors highly commends it, too. I don't doubt others do as well.

I wish tests for powdery mildew were conducted more often or that more were available if they are conducted. Here is the 2005 turf quality ratings under shade conditions in your area. Results for PM is the 4th column.

I'm not sure I would be alarmed with Morpheus' mention of PM for a number of reasons. One is that you get great resistance from both Bedazzled and Moonlight. You might want to balance the weight of the three to favor those two, like 40/40 and 20 percent Midnight/II. I think I recall suggesting that last year. Another thing is his lawn is new and new ones can't express themselves immediately, meaning their traits and characteristics, including resistances and tolerances. Still, his was not persistant as your has been. You have a lawn that is susceptible, while he doesn't. I don't expect he will have a PM problem in the future and if so, it will easily be taken care of. One thing I will surely suggest is you making sure it has not progressed into a soil-borne problem of something else before planting new seeds. Have the plants and soil tested for disease first by a plant pathology lab. Extension can handle it for you.

I agree with her assessment of tall fescue in a kbg lawn. There may be reasons for mixing them in some areas, like the transition zone perhaps, but generally it isn't necessary. Ryegrass either.

Been to bed twice but can't sleep. UGH

he still encountered powdery mildew

I totally agree with Bestlawn above. It's a very new lawn, the area is 2' of complete shade and reducing shade thereafter on the north side of the house, and the winter was wet and warm.

It's also not as bad as the PM I got on the old stuff. Since that's on grass with a known weakness, I'm reading that statement now as, "Doesn't perform against powdery mildew quite as well as the best of the bunch, but still does better than the non-elites."

My mix was 40% Midnight II, 30% Moonlight, 30% Bedazzled. Like Bestlawn said, readjust that if mildew is a fear for you...and expect to get it on a first year lawn anyway.

Awesome! Regarding soil test, the local extension told me that I can get a soil test kit. However, I'm waiting for another response from them since they didn't tell me where to pick it up.

Also, I like 40/40/20 ratio. Or I can do 50/30/20. About the powdery mildew prone area I have, like what you said bestlawn on another post, I will reduce the fertilizer.

By the way, last year, you told me to just skin the existing lawn but not kill. Since my lawn is very affected by powdery mildew, looks like applying roundup is the best way to do to make sure that my lawn gets pure MAG3. What do you think?

I know it's to early to buy seeds and I have not contacted any of them yet, did the prices go up or down? Gasoline has increased in our area so my guess is that it increased as well. Hopefully not.

Thanks morpheuspa too! I really appreciate it. :)

Ohhh Noooo! I didn't say that unless it was in response to you saying you didn't want to kill off your lawn. Starting from scratch is always my preference before planting these seeds.

This is a different kind of soil test. I think you are referring to a test kit for testing for nutrients. You want to get that done too, but you also need to test for disease that may have colonized in your soil.

Yep, the price of bluegrass seeds have increased over last year. Not too early to purchase them, so order as soon as you can. By fall, they just might go up again, but I haven't yet heard what to expect.