That sounds like Galaxy Kentucky Bluegrass Blend by Turf-Seed.

And you are correct, the midnight is darker and not as fine bladed as the moonlight and bedazzled. However, if you are looking for a fine bladed, dark green color, look no further - Turf Type Perennial Ryegrass.

Notably, is has the BEST apperance of the cool season grasses.

Here's a pic:

[IMG]http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb141/auteck/CIMG2215.jpg[/IMG]

Perennial Ryegrass on the left, Kentucky Bluegrass (Galaxy blend) on the right.

auteck, you have a very nice lawn. I also love the edging. Can you please teach us how you did the edging? I tried it yesterday using my edge trimmer/edger and it looked ok but yours is phenomenal. By the way, use &ltimg src=""> when you want to show a picture rather than [IMG][/IMG]

Here is your picture.

{{gwi:91554}}

Thanks for the complements.

I'm still confuse with: Could you please explain further?

As far as the edging, I use a gas-powered Stihl FC 55 edger. The gas-powered edgers are much better and easier to use than the electric ones. I used to have a Black & Decker and it did an ok job.

Here's a link: http://www.stihlusa.com/edgers/FC55.html

Hey, never mind, I've got it.

Thanks anyway.

You're taking the pic from Photobucket, so just copy the Tag line instead of the IMG line.

And whose question are you guys answering because it's not the OP's.

Nope, it's not the Galaxy blend. Turf-Seed doesn't produce Bedazzled.

Midnight is a rather fine blade. Moonlight and Bedazzled are rather medium blade and much the same. They are all low/slow growing. I wondered what was your existing grass, but you said you started a new lawn. Still wonder if something else is growing. Nutsedge? Quackgrass?

Auteck,

You've a nice looking lawn. But that blend, as Bestlawn points out, isn't the Galaxy blend.

That blend is the same thing I have in my yard (It's been about 21 months since I planted it).

(In the first year of growth, I found the midnight II sometimes lagged the other cultivars creating a bit of an uneven texture. That is no longer the case with my front yard -- seen here.)

{{gwi:101007}}

oooohhhmmmyyyssttaaarrrrrrsssthatissooooawesome!!!!!!!!!

Don't your neighbors ask you about it?

That ryegrass lawn is really, nice, too, but I can't agree it's the best. You know I have to take exception LOL. Just ignore me.

Bestlawn,

Yeah. I just had two neighbors ask me about it this weekend. They wanted to know who does my lawn. I explained that I do the maintenance myself. But the color really is just a result of the genetic color of the seed.

I water once per week and fertilize once in the spring and three times in the Fall. I'll take this moment to try to encourage "damngrassgrow." Your lawn should look really nice by the end of the fall. But you'll really, really like it next spring.

The huge advantage of your KBG is that because it is a true spreading type of grass, it knits a true turf that will become incredibly thick next year without your having to overseed.

(Of course, there is always the issue of the flower beds... :)

But I'm willing to deal with that to have the lawn that I have now.

Boy, I can't take my eyes off it. I lost which thread it was you posted the pic on before. Your next door neighbor should be really jealous......and ashamed haha. The whole block, too. I really would have thought it rather early for dormancy. Doesn't anyone else on your block water? LOL

Mallory,

It's been pretty dry around here, though we did get a good rain about a week or so ago.

The neighbor you see in the picture above does water his lawn. But he does it for short periods of time. He's often complimented me on my yard. But has never asked for my advice... so I'm reluctant to be the "know it all" guy and start explaining about infrequent but long waterings.

Interestingly, he's got a mostly rye grass lawn. (The neighbor on the other side (not pictured) has the older KBG lawn. It just goes to show you that cultural practices make all the difference.

There is just so much bad lawn care information floating around (watering practices, seed varieties, etc) that neighbors tell one another and believe without doing their due diligence.

I was fortunate enough to find this forum a couple of years ago. It's made all the difference (along with some very, very good grass seed -- Thanks again for that seed advice Mallory).

This was the other picture of the side yard (contrasted with the other neighbor with the older variety KBG). The first photo was taken this weekend. This photo was taken in April.

The color is much better now than in the older photo below.

{{gwi:81381}}

Beautiful KB lawn! I love the color...

I have a similar picture of my neighbor's bermuda lawn next to my Bluegrass.

BTW, is this your Bluegrass' first season?

Auteck,

The lawn is now about 21 months. (Though the half of the backyard that I rounded up in September 2006 and seeded with Midnight II, Moonlight and Bedazzled is still in it's first year.)

What I like about the KBG better than my previous TTTF and lawn is that it is soooooo much thicker.

Even if I overseeded every year with Tall Fescue, I could never get it as thick as this not-yet-2-year-old lawn has gotten.

It's simply a matter that the clumping grasses need to be overseeded fairly regularly to keep from thinning out.

Awesome lawn turf_toes!!! I can't wait to do mine.

turf_toes,

I have a question on your Midnight II since it's still not a strong disease resistant cultivar. Did you see any presence of powdery mildew somewhere from the whole life of it?

Please let me know.

Thanks,

Ron

I'm giving back the stage to damngrassgrow.

Show us some pics of the grass you are talking about.

V1rtu0s1ty,

Actually, my understanding is that all three of these cultivars are very disease resistant. In any event, I did notice a minor bit of powdery mildew in the first year (in an area that gets a little more shade during the Autumn) that I seeded (two months into the project).

I didn't do anything to fix it myself. It bounced back just fine in the spring. I've seen had no disease problems since and it seems exceptionally drought tolerant (especially compared to the nearby Tall Fescue and Rye grass lawns)

Ron, I'm hoping I didn't make you think MII is not disease resistant. It's improved resistance over Midnight in general. As far as PM, I don't think there is much that can be done, at least not for several years and a few more hybrids since all the Midnight types are inherently susceptible to that one but not to any others. Because of that, you will likely see PM in the first year being that the grass will be young and too early to fully express their traits, resistances, and tolerances. So, not even the bedazzled will be able to protect you initially. After the first year, the grass will grow into its own quite nicely. Then again, you may not see any disease at all with your organic program, proper cultural practices, as well as the corn meal preemptive. Just wanted you to know you will have good disease protection overall with those three grasses.

I've seen had no disease problems since and it seems exceptionally drought tolerant

This is the thing that is really pushing me to really by the seeds this year. I want to save money on water but of course, while still doing the proper lawn care and that is, proper deep and infrequent watering, different meal application like corn, corn gluten, and soybean meal, and lastly, AACT application per month. :)

Mallory,

.Ron, I'm hoping I didn't make you think MII is not disease resistant.

Glad you told me about this. I misunderstood you then. :)

I'm really jealous of turf_toes's lawn, hehehe. I'm happy with my hardwork though because I have seen the lawns of my neighbors today and some are asking for water. Mine is still green. I don't see any blade browning/yellowing. :)

For some reason my Bluegrass lawn was more drought tolerant last year than it is this year. Last year it proved much better than Fescue, and this year they're even...

I did use Starter Fertalizer (scotts 20-27-4) which makes the roots of the grass grow like crazy, and perhaps the roots when in deeper in the soil thus more drought tolerant - makes sense?

Turf Toes, I stole your pictures and am going to show everyone who has eyes LOL.

Here's a picture of 100% Midnight II KB in mid summer 2006 in Cary, NC:

{{gwi:101009}}

Auteck,,

What cultivars are you using? My own lawn last year was much darker than that. I also didn't have any of the brown spots you have there. I'm just interested in what types you used.

Of course, I'm sure the heat and humidity is worse there than here. (though I too am in the transition zone.)

Actually, I'm fairly surprised to see anyone in NC growing KBG.

Here's a pic of the lawn a few weeks ago. I didn't take a pic of the grass height difference, maybe next time.

{{gwi:101012}}

That's a beauty you have there, Damngrassgrow.

Turf Toes, all of my grass seed is Turf-Seed up in Oregon. I just to buy it from John Rector if anyone knows him? He's a great guy with lots of knowledge and an extensive Turf record. I've learnt alot from him.

Anyway, the cultivars are as follow:

The area shown in picture is 100% Midnight II KB. I have about 10,000 sf of lawn and I always forget that section. I forget to mow it, to seed it, fertilizer, etc... So it was an accident that I ran out of Galaxy KB and I only had one 5 lbs bag left that was intended to be used in the backyard along with some Fescue.

I didn't fertilized the lawn last summer like I was told, so the dark green color shown earlier that year faded as the weather turned warmer/hotter. I'm going to fertilize this summer for the first time to see what results I get. Everyone tells me "don't do it, you're going to burn the grass" oh well - we'll see.

As far as growing KBG in NC, it is used widely throughout the state as a companion for Tall Fescue. It grows very well on the mountains where the summers are VERY mild, and the winters are MUCH colder. I really wanted the very dark green color that KBG is known for, and decided to go for it. John Rector at Turf-Seed told me that they have a breding Turf Farm just north of Raleigh where they grow 100% KBG. I also found a Sod Farm located on the eastern part of the state where they grow 100% KBG. I drove up there in the summer of 2005 in late July and found out that the bluegrass was nicely growing there. That was enough assurance for me to grow bluegrass in Central NC.

The grass is not the best adapted species in this neck of the woods, but being in the transition zone - nothing really is. The few warm season grasses grown up here always get damage from winter - even on a mild winter.

I guess we're too far south for a cool season grass, and too far north for a warm season grass.

Look at the damage suffered during the summer:

{{gwi:101015}}

Phitium Blight was responsible for the attacks...

I'm happy to report that the blue has made full recovery!

Cheers,

Xavier

Yeah, I tried adding some KBG with my TTTF seeding last fall to see how it would do here, and I don't think it's gonna make it.

Of course, it's getting where I can't tell what's dying right now and what is going dormant in spots with the poa and KBG and other small brownish spots appearing.

Why is turf_toes's midnight II darker green?

Different conditions. Different digital camera. Different lighting. A lot of variables. Even if a pic is not accurate, you can still compare lawns with neighboring ones.

Yeah. Lighting makes a big difference in how pictures come out.

My lawn actually looks as dark as the pictures I've posted. But there are a lot of other inputs that make a big difference.

(I took my photos with the Nikon D40x with the 18 - 55 lens.

Also fertilization rates and cultural practices can come into play too.

Subywu is right about comparing with nearby neighbors.

The other thing I can think of is the age of the turf. I can say without question that my lawn is much darker in the 2nd season than it was in the first year.

Turf Toes, the Nikon is a great camera to be sure but for some reason, I think there is excessive color saturation in your pics. Sometimes the in-camera settings from the factory is set to "vivid" and sometimes it is post processing ("auto adjust").

Here is a comparo with saturation adjusted down.
{{gwi:101007}}{{gwi:101019}}

Still a wonderfully dark lawn!

Very nice.

Here's mine in mid Fall 2006 (100% KB Galaxy blend)

{{gwi:101021}}

I think that's pretty dark green, yes?

Auteck,

Yes. My understanding is that the photo is normally darker when it is in shaded areas or under clouds. I've noticed that too.

The neighbor's yard is looking pretty good too!

Auteck,

I'm rereading that and I think my note might seem sarcastic. That's not how I meant it. I was trying to say that the greens tend to appear darker in overcast situations.

Srri, if I didn't make it clear in my original note.

or lightened up and it's still really marvelous
{{gwi:101024}}

No harm done. I know that's not the best picture, but it looks VERY close to the real color.

My lawn has lost some of the dark green color due to the high heat and lack of fertilzer.

I'll be taking more pictures in the Fall and posting them here for your viewing.

turf_toes, where are you?

When did you overseed again? How did it look after 1 month? 2 months? 1 quarter?

Please let me know.

Thanks,

Ron

turf_toes, I have serious love for your lawn.

I want, I want, I want (avarice, while unattractive, is a great motivator!)

I'm durned glad I bought the same seed mix and I can't wait to see my lawn do that.

I admit it, I put in a few pinches of seed in the area next to the garden in a small patch killed by the triv. I can keep that wet. The sprouts are already the color of the existing lawn and getting darker daily (the Bedazzled is still bright, but a very rich and beautiful color).

I have to say, I'm very excited.

Ron,

I originally rounded up the lawn in August 2005 (Two applications one week apart). I slitseeded on Labor day weekend. I've not overseeded the front yard since then.

(Though I did round up and seed half the backyard last fall.)

The first spring, I had a few bare spots. Between transplanting the stuff that grew in my flowerbeds and the spreading of the grass, it was completely filled in by mid summer.

The lawn looked very good then. But it didn't have the turf-density that it has now. The color continues getting darker as the grass becomes more established. It is much, much darker this year than it was last year.

I actually had one neighbor ask me what kind of "frankengrass" I had planted. He didn't believe it was KBG.

Looking back, I'm really glad I decided to round up the old yard. It would have been very hard to get this new grass to dominate so quickly. I suppose it could have happened eventually. But my guess is it would have taken four years or more to accomplish what I've got now in less than two.

Morpheuspa,

You're going to love this stuff. It really looks great.

Honestly, the only problem I've had -- and it really isn't a problem, just kind of funny -- is all the neighborhood kids want to lie down in my grass. Apparently, it's softer than most of the surrounding Rye and Tall Fescue lawns.

is all the neighborhood kids want to lie down in my grass.

I'm getting in the car and leaving NOW. If you see a five foot eight redhead face-down in your lawn, don't shoot. It's just me.

:-)

The kids next door do that already. I have a lawn with no pricker weeds. They don't. I don't mind, it's amusing to see somebody use the thing.