The Best Types of Tall Fescue for Southern California

Grass and Climate

• U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness growing zones, based on average annual minimum winter temperature, have less meaning for turf grass than for flowering plants. Cool-season grasses, adapted to northern parts of the United States, are typically green in cooler weather and prosper in temperatures from 65 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Warm-season grasses, adapted to warmer regions, like temperatures between 80 and 95 F. The USDA further divides cool and warm zones into humid and dry climates. Southern California, located largely in USDA plant hardiness zones 9 and 10, is in the warm-dry grass zone. Tall fescue, the most common turf grass in California, stays green in the winter and tolerates heat and drought in the summer.

Tall Fescue History

• Coarse-textured “Kentucky-31” and “Alta,” best grown for animal foraging, were planted as lawns for more than 50 years although they produced weak turf. In the 1970s and 1980s, horticulturalists developed fine-textured, dense hybrids that gave lawns year-round color. These turf cultivars included “Rebel,” “Houndog,” “Falcon,” “Adventure” and “Olympic.” In the years that followed, horticulturalists released scores of hybrid cultivars. Today you may encounter “Rebel Advance,” “Rebel IV” or “Rebel Extreme.” The improved hybrids of the original cultivars show the same basic traits.

University of California Tests

• In the late 1980s, the University of California, Riverside, tested 38 varieties of turf-type tall fescues in its UC South Coast Field Station in Irvine, some 40 miles south of Los Angeles. On a 1 to 9 scale, the best overall results for the top 10 tall fescue turf cultivars maintained at cutting heights of 3/4 to 1 1/2 inch were “Falcon” at 6.8, followed by “Rebel,” 6.7 and “Houndog,” 6.6. UC researchers say the differences among top cultivars in this overall assessment and ratings of other qualities are statistically insignificant.

Density and Color

• On a density scale of 1 to 9 with 9 being the most dense grass, UC researchers concluded the three best cultivars were “Adventure,” Arid,” “Apache,” “Houndog” and “Jaguar.” All scored an 8. On a color scale of 1 to 9 with 9 being the darkest green, the three best cultivars were “Jaguar” at 7.3 and “Adventure” and “Olympic," both 7.

Resistance to Disease and Weeds

• The best turf cultivars for resisting fungal rust diseases were “Alta,” “Clemfine” and “Houndog.” Cultivars with the ability to resist invasions by crabgrass and other broadleaf weeds when mowed at heights of 3/4 inch and 1 1/2 inch were “Falcon,” Rebel” and “Houndog.”