Hey grass1950. Welcome to the discussion. The idea of tall grass does not come out of academia or even the professional turf studies. It comes from experience on the forums which include the forums for lawn professionals. The most intense study of actual lawns is on the lawn professionals forums. Some of those people are highly focused. It seems there is always a discussion about what is the right height for certain grasses. In my opinion the consensus is there is no consensus. The pros who are motivated by quick money opt to mow low. The short canopy allows weeds to come in which gives them an opportunity to sell a separate weed treatment. The pros who pride themselves on appearance go with (1) full control of the sprinkler system from the homeowner, (2) mowing high for most lawns (except bermuda, centipede, and bent), and (3) three chemical fertilizer apps per year (1 in spring after the spring flush of new growth and 2 in the fall to "winterize.") Most all pros will mow on the 7-day schedule regardless of how the grass is growing. They like that weekly check. The 1/3 rule is more of a guideline. I am experimenting with tall grass. Of course I am not a university, so this is an considered an anecdote in the academic world. My peer review comes from my peers on these forums. I have seen St Augustine growing tall in two locations. One was my neighbor next door about 5 years ago. She was in the house for 5 years and never once mowed or watered. Her grass always looked better than mine which I was mowing, watering, and fertilizing regularly. Her lawn was in fairly deep shade most of the day. It grew up to around 12 inches high. The other location I have seen tall St Augustine is adjacent to the dog walk at a condominium in Port Aransas, TX. The St Aug had escaped out into the sand dunes. That grass was never watered, mowed, or fertilized for about 15 years. It grew up to about 30 inches high in full sun. That grass always looked pale green but it never suffered from any of the droughts we get in Texas...until last year. It will be interesting to see it again this year because last winter it looked dead. My personal experiment looked like this in February... All the other lawns in the neighborhood were dormant as was part of my lawn that had been mowed back 5 months earlier. As of last week my lawn looks like this... I know. Tee hee hee! Hey Marge! Get a look at this guy's lawn? Well look again. The grass where she is sitting has not been watered or mowed since October. I bought the house in mid September. Lawn has not been fertilized in years. The previous owner bought the house from an estate and did nothing. Estate did nothing and the former owner did nothing in her later years. The guy I bought it from had been renting the house and ignoring the lawn. He kept it mowed for two weeks while we were closing the deal. This part of the lawn has no weeds, no disease, and looks pretty darned green for getting zero care. The areas that were mowed are not doing as well. I also have issues in the areas on both sides of the house where I get runoff from the roof during rain. I am hoping this really tall grass will move into the areas where bermuda is creeping back in. The location of this experiment is George West, TX. Our temps are just getting into the low 90s. Normally we get a coastal breeze bringing heat and moderate humidity but we are much more arid than either Corpus Christi or even San Antonio. If we get wind from any direction other than the sea breeze, then the humidity drops into the 20s or 30s and desiccates the soil. That range of humidity is part of this experiment. The area in the second picture above looked very dry last weekend after a wind shift, but then the winds turned back from the coast. As of Friday it seemed to have recuperated without irrigation. What I'm trying to do is to advance the understanding of tall grass. I am hoping someone else will see these images and try an experiment with theirs. For someone who might be interested in such an experiment, it is helpful that my wife does not live at this house and the lawn is 100 feet back away from the street and neighbors.

Should you? With the frequent rain this time of year, you may if you want to. It won't hurt anything, and can help stave off a fungal issue. That is good looking grass.

Yes, I'm curious to see what I think in a few years. My neighbor's yard and mine both have grape hyacinths in different places, which I think date from before I bought the house in 2000. I don't particularly care for them popping up in the bed by the screen porch, which has more of a plan to it, but I see them in my neighbor's lawn, clustered in the sparse area around a sweet gum, and I think they look fantastic there.

@NHBabs - The sod is at the same level as the original grass and, as far as I can tell, it should not be collecting too much water. I've lived in the house for two year before installing the sod and the area was never soaked or had any major puddles. My neighbor on the other side of the fence has grass up to the fence line and his is growing just fine. @mishmosh - I live in Everett, WA so we do get a lot of rain but the original grass right around the new sod gets the same amount of rain and sunlight but is doing much better. Forgive me but I'm not really sure what you mean by the type of grass. I bought the sod in rolls from a local topsoil and lawn farm. I followed their directions for the install exactly but it is still looking like this.