Frangione, Super Sod is probably your best bet as far as getting it delivered. About 3 years ago when I bought mi current home, I visited several Sod Farms in NC. I was thinking about putting Zoysia, but after visiting a Sod farm that had 100% Kentucky Bluegrass sod that looked 100% green in the middle of July was enough for me to go with bluegrass. I originaly was going to buy KBG sod for my property, but took too long to order it (November) and the sod farm ran out of KBG sod. I was determined to get KBG in my yard so I bought some seed and started the project. That was Fall 2005, today I have one of the nicest lawns (if not the nicest by many people that walk by when I'm cutting it) even during the summer months. As far as Meyer Zoysia, there's a sod farm in Scolandneck, NC that sells it. The problem is that you might get some weedy bermuda grass included with your Zoysia. That's what happened to a friend of mine. Since you are only working with 1,000 sf of grass and have common bermuda growing in it already, I would suggest to overseed the entire area with Perennial Ryegrass. It's the easiest and most beautiful grass a homeowner can grow. If you keep it watered and fertilize during the summer months, it may stay green year round and not die. But if you don't, then let it die (usually in late July to Mid-August) and in September you can overseed again. Last option is to get some Fescue so from Super Sod. I was there last year buying some bermierda 419 sod and the Fescue sod they had in there looked 20 times better than the bermuda. It was thick and dark green. Texas Weed, You are in Dallas, TEXAS last time I checked, how do you comment on our climate? It's obvious that you don't know. It's also obvious that you don't undertand how cold weather affects turfgrass. Raleigh is located in the Transsition zone as you know, the transsition zone is defined for having hot summer and cold winters. It's the reason why is so tough to grow grass in this "transsition zone". The main problem with the transsition zone is that it gets cold at night (below freezing) and usually cool during the day (above freezing) That constand change in temperatures is what stresses grasses, plants, trees, etc, in the Transsition zone. Our temperatures normaly don't stay below freezing during the day, but sometimes they do for a few days. That is tough on the grass, especially when you don't have reliable snow cover to protect it. Another problem in the transsition zone happens in the spring when the weather starts to warm up and sometimes you get 2 to 3 weeks of temperatures above freezing, so warm season grasses start to come out of dormancy and then without notice a Canadian cold front moves in and temperatures drop well below freezing (24 or so) for many hours at night. That's a big problem for warm season grasses, not so much for Fescue or Bluegrass. Cold tolerance of warm season grasses is just like it implies, it tolerates it. You know very well that Fescue is king in the transsition zone and it's not because people are obssesed with having a green lawn year-round. It's what grows here best as many research studies will show, and it's what North Carolina State University recommends. If some people want to grow Centiweed, Bermuda, or Zoysia, none of those are better adapted to our weather than Fescue, a cool season grass. Raleigh St. Augustine grass was probably developed by NCSU for use in the eastern part of NC, the coastal Plains. I've never seen a St. Augustine lawn here in Raliegh, not one. I've seen a few, very few Centipede, but most of the warm season grasses grown in the Raleigh area are either Bermuda or Zoysia. I know Zoysia can grow in Chicago and even in Maine, but that doesn't make cold hardy in those areas, neither here in Raleigh. Warm season grasses are tropical grasses that need a place that's warm most of the time, and that's not Raleigh either. NC is a cool season state with the most diverse weather in the eastern seaboard. To put this in perspective, Fescue lawns in the "Raleigh" area go dormant during our winter so called "pretty mild winter" and turn nearly straw color like Zoysia.

Did you ask ask around if these certain zoysia cultivar can tolerate partial shade? I think it is easier to maintain coarse bladed zoysia than fine bladed when mowing with rotary mower.

Emerald is much darker in color, finer textured, more shade tolerant, and better cold tolerance than Zenith. Since the installer will charge the same for both makes it a NO BRAINER IMO

There are a few things I think I can help with. - Weed Killer: The best type of weed killer would be to use something like Weed Be Gone. Make sure that it is SELECTIVE, because if not, it could end up killing your grass, too. Steer clear of things like Round Up, because they will do this. - Fertilizer: Because of the nature of zoysia, be sure to get a water soluble fertilizer. There may be some specially formatted for zoysia grasses. DO NOT use regular granular fertilizers, because they could end up doing more harm than good and kill your grass. - Bare Areas: My suggestion would be to wait a little bit before trying to fill those spots. The great thing about zoysia is that it fills in and spreads, so your spots should be taken care of in a little. I hope this helps! Best of luck, and let me know if you have any more questions. -Steve