Best grass type for North Houston

JB – posted 19 April 2004 13:58

I live in N. Houston(Spring area)and was wondering if there was good replacement for St. Augustine. I planted a tall fescue blend from Pennington in some pots and I really like the look and feel of it. I also planted some Argintine Bahia and it is just starting to come up. My side yard looks nasty because the St. Augustine cannot withstand the foot traffic. My other side yard can’t take the heat of full sun all day. I have a lot of clay in my soil that makes long watering times difficult without contant areation because of the fast run-off.

Thanks for your input.

ted – posted 25 April 2004 19:19

st. aug. is definitely the choice for houston. you might try bermuda or zoysia- lots of bermuda in the woodlands. your fescue won’t last much longer- it’s a winter overseed type grass into the st. aug.

JB – posted 26 April 2004 11:52

Thanks Ted! I learned a lot after posting this that may help me with my St. Augustine. I have been mowing too low for one thing, only 2-2.5 inches. Would taller mowing help with my foot-traffic problem at all?

ted – posted 26 April 2004 15:01

you might try a little higher- remember you can always reseed your lawn again for the winter using perennial ryegood time to do it is in october, after fungus season- see the texas a & m website for lots of good info. look aroundin the woodlands- you can even see some zoysia lawns there although they’re rare. bermuda is used on the area golf courses, as well. sounds like you’re from up north???

JB – posted 29 April 2004 10:31

Yep, way up north. Dallas!!!!

I saw some grass at the new shopping center in The Woodlands(something with ‘P’) that looked and felt great. I have the cheapest St. Augustine the builder could find. I have it looking great, I just want something that feels better on my feet and can with stand traffic better. I had Bermuda growing up and put some seed out a year or so ago. I just can’t bring myself to mow low enough to allow it to compete with the St. Augustine. It’s doing well in my ‘traffic lane’ but isn’t very think because I mow it to tall. I may just have to suck it up and nurture the Bermuda at the expense of the St. Aug. I hoping to find a nice gradual transition.

Thanks for all of the advice. This site is really fantastic. I’ll check out the A&M site. I’ve given them enough money over the years they must have something to give back! 😉

ted – posted 29 April 2004 16:05

yeah, anybody north of Conroe is a yankee!!! try looking for some zoysia- it’s used pretty well- i remember some in a subdivision over by John Cooper school- something with an “H” in it? anyway- i think you would really like zoysia. Bermuda’s all over the place in the Woodlands.