I'm in Cary, NC, just west of Raleigh. I know the climate very well, and what grows here. I need to know the folling: Sun exposure sloped yard? Soil type? (I know is probably clay, but some people have some good top soil around here I've seen) How are you going to be using your lawn? Are you willing to do what it takes to grow and maintain a nice and healthy lawn? Are you going to water in the summer or whenever it's needed? Anyway, perennial ryegrass or ANY grass that does not get the basic requirements will die. Perennial Ryegrass is moderate adapted in our area, so you can grow it if you want, but only if you going to take good care of it. Fescue does well here in our area, but I find that it takes way too much work and time to make it germinate and to form a decent turf, and at the end you end up with a bunch type, thick bladed grass that's not good looking. Perennial Ryegrass will form a beautiful turf, the best of the cool season grasses (bentgrass excluded) with little efford. The dark green color and fine bladed dense tuf and appearance is simply incredible. Look at this pictures I took TODAY: The first picture, Perennial Rye is to the right, the second picture is on top, and the last picture is on the left.

Hey dude, sorry, I've been so busy at work and now I'm also busy working in my yard in preparation for seeding... Go to Southern Seeds in Middlesex, NC. Ask for Kevin Sharpe and tell him Xavier refered you. They have all the Bluegrasses, Ryegrass, Fescues, Fine Fescues, Bentgrasses, all the grasses you can possibly grow in stock. I wouldn't grow fescue unless you abosolutely like its looks and performance. Up in Wake Forest, your night time temperatures during the winter are in the mid 20's, which means your soil does not warm up as quick. You can grow Kentucky Bluegrass or Perennial Ryegrass if you want, but don't expect miracles. Bluegrasses and Ryegrasses need water and fertilizer just like Fescue. In my experience, PRG wins every other grass in the Raleigh area performance-wise. It might die in patches like fescue if you don't water it, but when conditions are ideal; which is most of the year, it looks as good as a Ferrari in a showroom - superb. They have a Kentucky Bluegrass blend that has Midnight Star, Prosperity, and Moonlight I think. They also have Trifecta PRG and Quicksilver (great for our area) Click on their web site below: I just picked up today (3) 50lbs bags of Grey Hawk PRG Blend from Southern Seeds. I paid $1.25 per lbs plus tax. I hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions. Take care, Xavier Here is a link that might be useful: Kentucky Bluegrass, PRG, and Fescue

@todd I'm in CA, just south of Stockton. We are "fescue country" around here, which is crazy because it's hot and never rains. We don't even get clouds, but fescue is the top selling grass followed by KBG. You can't even reliably source bermuda sod. But if you look around you can see bermuda everywhere. The native species is taking over lawns left and right. People just dig in and keep fighting. I know a guy a block away that re-sods his lawn every Spring because he refuses to water "because of the drought." I really don't understand his thinking at all, but it's been his thing for the past 4 yrs. We also have bermuda bushes: 3 ft tall bermuda "bush" bermuda crossing the driveway 6 ft tall bermuda "bush" sucked the life right out of it's host. After host died lawn service started spraying "weed killers" every 3 months but it lives on. People have just given up in my opinion. Almost everyone here has a lawn service. So people are actually paid and these are the common results. Sadly, the top picture is one of the better looking lawns around here. Others have resorted to converting their lawns to rock gardens, concrete slabs, or artificial turf. Some city programs pay homeowners up to $4k for lawn conversions. I can imagine this happening more across the country when hearing about so many restrictive water bans.

Have you considered St Augustine? It is going to creep over the edges of sidewalks and driveways, but otherwise is a fairly docile turf. It grows fast enough to repair itself and will even keep other grassy weeds out - including bermuda and zoysia. It needs the same water and fertilizer as zoysia. Zoysia on the other hand, has a characteristic you haven't mentioned. While it is slow growing, it is invasive to garden beds. It spreads underground and pops up 10 feet away from where you last saw it.