The Grass is Always Greener...

The Grass is Always Greener…

Here in the Sunshine State (Florida, for those in less desirable climates), or at least in most parts of the state, the common landscape practice for decades has been to install St. Augustine grass.  St. Augustine grass is a large blade, dense, but hard to walk on grass.  It has always been plentiful in sod farms and, with proper irrigation, it stays beautifully green all throughout the year.  As the weather is what attracts a large majority of the population to Florida, having a bright green lawn has always been a mandate for landscaping.

For years, the main alternative to St. Augustine has been Bahia grass.  The great benefit to Bahia is that you don’t really need to water it.  The stuff will never die.  This is a huge advantage over other grasses, where bugs, disease and heat will all contribute to the deterioration of a once healthy lawn.  However, Bahia has a somewhat stringy look to it and, horror of horrors, in the colder months or without sufficient irrigation, or both, it will be known to brown up.  You just can’t have brown grass in Florida yards.  For that reason, more than almost any other, you rarely see Bahia grass in homeowner yards.  You, will, though, see it in large swaths of common areas that are not high profile areas or are in areas that do not have irrigation.

Over the last decade or so, another grass has begun to grow in popularity.  Empire Zoysia.  It is interesting as I have mainly begun to see Zoysia in communities touting themselves to be “Green”, claiming Zoysia to be a more environmentally friendly and water tolerant grass.  The real beauty of Zoysia is just that, its beauty.  As opposed to the hard blade nature of St. Augustine, Zoysia is a softer grass that has a more carpet like appearance and is easier to walk on.  As an aside, I always find it interesting when people refer to Zoysia as an easier grass to walk on.  I have lived in Florida for almost 25 years.  I have never seen anyone throw off their shoes so they can go frolic in their grass – go figure.  Anyway, a second major benefit to Zoysia is its tolerance to certain pests and bugs, most notably cinch bugs.  Chinch bugs are nasty creatures.  You will not readily see them, but you will see their handiwork.  They typically thrive in the warmer summer months when yards, even when well irrigated, tend to dry out.  In these conditions, cinch bugs will eat your yard dry, leaving large patches of brown, dead areas in your yard.  Nasty stuff.  While Zoysia has its own pests to deal with, none are as insidious as the cinch bug.  No large dead patches of grass seemingly overnight.  Nuff said.

Regarding the environmental tolerance of Zoysia, you need to be careful.  It does require irrigation, just as St. Augustine does.  The difference is in how each grass absorbs the water.  St. Augustine has above ground stems.  Zoysia has below ground stems.  When St. Augustine stems dry out, the grass dies.  Since Zoysia stems are below ground, they don’t readily dry out, so the grass does not die so easily.

However, let’s not forget about that green, year round look.  St. Augustine, properly treated, will be green all year round.  Zoysia, if hit with a winter cold streak, will brown out.  So, during the winter months, when northerners are fleeing the cold, gray, cloudy north, they don’t want to get hit with brown lawns in Florida.

As a final note, a Zoysia lawn is more expensive than a St.  Augustine lawn.

So, what is the right answer?  The truth is, it is a preference.  St. Augustine is absolutely more prevalent.  However, a well maintained Zoysia lawn is definitely more eye catching.  Due to the preponderance of master planned communities in Florida, you do need to be careful as your association docs may restrict your ability to mix grass types together.  However, it is good to be able to have an eye to spot the difference and at least know why one yard may look different than the next.

So, remember.  While beauty may be in the eyes of the beholder, the grass may not always be greener on the other side.

Until next time…

 

Keep kicking the dirt.