Hi Yard Doctor,

I am located in coastal CT, zone 6b.

I have read various opinions on whether fine fescue can do well in sunny locations, and they have run all the way from "yes, certainly" to "absolutely not."

I renovated my (mostly sunny but with shaded borders) back yard last year with a blend of Award, Moonlight and Bedazzled KBG, and it is doing very well.

I would like to renovate the front yard this year, but it is a very small yard (1000 sq feet maybe) and the sunlight really varies due to two relatively small trees on my property (a red maple and a weeping cherry), and some very large Oaks across the street. The result is that a few areas of this yard get some serious sun, but most of it gets not much at all.

So I thought to renovate with a blend of fine fescues, but I am just not sure if they will do well in the small sunny areas. I am thinking a blend of Salem creeping red, Warwick hard, and Intrigue chewings, based on another person's lawn where these cultivars were used to blend colorwise, as well as fescues can, with the same blend of KBG I have (Award, Moonlight, Bedazzled).

But if fine fescue will just cook in the sun, I have been considering mixing that KBG blend with that blend of fescues, weighting towards the KBG, with the idea that the fescues may thrive in the shade, the KBG will thrive in the sun, and hopefully the transition won't be too noticeable. Then I could overseed any bare spots next year, probably nearest to the tree trunks, with more of that fescue blend.

As an aside I have been surprised at how well the KBG has done even in the shadier areas of my back lawn (4 hours of sun or so on the borders).

I'm sorry this post is so long, that is a problem of mine... To whittle my question down, I'm wondering whether fine fescue can thive in full sun. If so, I'll plant that as a blended monostand. If not, what do you think about mixing that KBG blend with it in the way I propose?

Thank you very much,

Paul