What Kind of Grass Is in My Lawn?

Climate

• Grasses that grow in the hot humid south will be different than those growing in the cool Pacific Northwest. In transitional areas, there may be both warm and cool season grasses. Common southern grasses include Bermuda, Zoysia, St. Augustine and Centipede. Northern grasses are typically ryegrass, Kentucky bluegrass and fescue. Southern grasses grow in summer while northern grasses grow in the spring and fall seasons.

Texture

• In southern climates, Bermuda and Zoysia grasses have narrow leaves while St. Augustine and Centipede grasses have wider leaves and appear coarser. Kentucky bluegrass has shiny narrow leaves, and fescue has smooth medium green leaves that are wider than Kentucky bluegrass. Creeping red fescue, however, has very narrow leaves. Ryegrass is a bit narrower than fescue.

Color

• To further narrow the choices when identifying grasses, consider the color. In southern climates, a wide-leafed dark green grass is probably Centipede. If it is light green and wide-leafed, it might be St. Augustine. In northern climates, light green leaves most likely indicate fescue. Darker green leaves might be Kentucky bluegrass or fescue, depending on the width of the leaf. The Kentucky bluegrass will be narrower.

Weed Grasses

• Although we might not like to admit it, there's a good chance there are weed grasses in our lawns. Usually, they are obvious because they want to take over the lawn. Crabgrass is perhaps the most notorious. It's larger than most turf grasses and has coarser, wider leaves. It has vigorous stolons, or sprigs, and spreads quickly. Quackgrass is another one that's hard to control because it has thick underground stolons that grow new grass every time they are broken or after an herbicide is applied. It looks like a larger version of normal turfgrass.