How to Choose Lawn Seed in Northern California

Consult a USDA hardiness zone map to determine the USDA hardiness zone for your area. Although most of Northern California falls in a cool season grass zone, parts of the coastal area are in zone 9. Your hardiness zone will determine if you are in a cool season, warm season or transition zone area. You can find a USDA hardiness zone map in any gardening book, on the USDA website or your local county extension service. Additionally, any lawn seed seller will have a USDA hardiness map.

Consult local lawn care professionals, seed sellers or your local county extension agent for recommendations concerning lawn seed that grows well in your area. The most common turf varieties grown in Northern California include Kentucky bluegrass and tall fescue. Because tall fescue is heat and drought tolerant, it may also be used in coastal areas where the temperatures grow warmer in summer as well as in California's transition zone. Fine fescue may be used in mountainous areas where temperatures frequently dip into the freezing ranges.

Make a list of desirable traits for your lawn turf. Choose a lawn turf that has these characteristics from your list of potential grasses. For example, creeping bentgrass tolerates close mowing and is a good grass for homeowners who desire a manicured lawn. Red fescue is a low-maintenance grass used in cool, shady areas at higher elevations. Homeowners with mountain cabins may plant red fescue in places they will not mow, irrigate or fertilize.

Consider blends of seed to give your lawn a combination of desirable characteristics. For example, a blend of bluegrass and ryegrass combines the fast germination and growing advantages of ryegrass with the tough wearing qualities of bluegrass. Ryegrass will sprout and provide the immediate green in your lawn until bluegrass can grow and fill in the lawn.