The Best Grass Types for Your Most Luscious Lawn Ever

In a nutshell, the “best” type of grass depends on the climate where you live. In general, warm season grasses grow in the south with hot summers and mild winters.

Cool season grasses grow in the north and thrive during the cooler times of year. There’s also a transition zone, which is has no specific borders but is typically defined as the mid-section of the country. You can typically grow both types of grass there.

In general, here are the most common grasses you’ll see:

Cool Season Grasses

Kentucky Bluegrass

This grass is adapted for northern climates and northern areas of the transition zone. Kentucky bluegrass is dark green and looks great if you like to mow to show striping in your lawn! But it doesn’t have a lot of heat tolerance, says Waltz.

Tall Fescue

This is a gorgeous grass with a fine texture. Tall fescue is fairly heat resistant and also may work in the transition zone, too. It also germinates rapidly, typically in about five days.

Perennial Ryegrass

This fine-bladed grass germinates rapidly and tolerates high traffic. Perennial ryegrass is used for lawns in the north, but it’s also sometimes used to overseed warm season grasses in the south.

Fine Fescue

As the name indicates, this grass has an attractive, fine texture. Fine fescue also works in the north and the upper portion of the transition zone. Its biggest attribute is that it tolerates shade better than many other types, so it’s a good choice in lawns that get a lot of shade.

Warm Season Grasses

Zoysia Grass

This grass has a dense texture and does well in full sun and part shade. Zoysia grass has a broad spectrum of textures from fine to coarse, depending on the cultivar. It also grows in the transition zone.

Bermuda Grass

This type of grass is medium to coarse-textured with a grey-green color. Bermuda grass loves full sun and is super heat-tolerant, says Waltz.

St. Augustine Grass

This grass grows best in the Lower South and coastal areas. St. Augustine grass has a coarser texture than many other types and adapts well to both sand and clay, says Waltz.

Centipede Grass

This grass needs full sun and has good heat tolerance and bounces back quickly from drought. Centipede grass does best in the Lower South.

Try to plant at the proper time to ensure grass has the best conditions for germination and growth. “You want to get grass established during the times of its most active growth before environmental conditions become too harsh for the young grass to survive,” says Waltz.

The best time to plant warm season grasses generally is late spring to mid-spring. You also need soil temperatures of at least 65 degrees and past the last frost date for germination.

Ideally, you should plant cool season grasses in the fall, but you can patch holes in the spring if you start early enough. In the north, you need spring soil temperatures in the 55°F to 65°F range to germinate.

It depends on the temperature!

Warm season grasses take 7 to 14 days to germinate, while cool season take 10 to 20 days to generate.

But if you’ve done everything correctly, “in a footrace, perennial rye and tall fescue are the fastest growing,” says Waltz.

Don't worry if it's been a few days, or even a week or two, and you don't see sprouts. Many types can take up to three weeks to germinate. However, if nearly a month is gone and there's still no grass, you may need to do some sleuthing.

One of the most common times grass seed won't germinate is after a pre-emergent herbicide has been put down to prevent weed growth.

“Pre-emergent herbicide doesn’t know the different between grass seed and weed seeds,” says Waltz. If you apply it, you’ll need to wait 60 to 90 days before you can plant grass seed.

Follow these best practices to make your grass thick and lush:

Do a soil test

Make sure you’re giving your grass what it needs to thrive. If you don’t know what your soil contains, you have no idea what to add. And it’s a waste of time and money to put down nutrients your lawn doesn’t need. Your local university coop extension service usually offers tests for a small fee.

Mow at the right height

Every type of grass has an ideal mowing height; one size doesn’t fit all. For example, zoysia is best mowed at 1 to 1 ½ inches tall, while tall fescue should be mowed at 2 to 3 inches. Mow at the higher end of the range to keep grass strong and shade out weed seeds.

Aerate every few years

Your lawn can become compacted due to traffic from kids, pets, and vehicles. A core aerator pulls up small plugs, loosening soil and increasing the availablility of oxygen, water and nutrients to the roots, says Waltz. The plugs sit on the lawn to decompose. You can DIY it, but the equipment is heavy and hard to manage, so consider hiring a pro.

Water correctly

Lawns don’t need to be watered every day unless you’re trying to get seed or sod to take. For established lawns, overwatering is a big no-no! To avoid wasting water, don’t water on a schedule; instead, water deeply when grass looks wilted or when footprints remain after walking across the lawn. Frequent light watering actually encourages weeds to pop up and grass roots to grow shallowly, which makes grass less drought tolerant. Finally, water in the early morning when the sun is low so more water gets to plant roots instead of evaporating.