Grass Types: Bluegrass/Fescue

It’s time to further your education on the types of grass the we commonly use for our lawns and landscapes.  This is the first part in a series on grass types.  It’s important to know which type of grass survives and thrives best in your climate.  Scott’s Identification Tool can help you determine your ideal grass by zip code.

Part 1:  Bermuda Grass

Part 2:  St. Augustine Grass

Part 3:  Zoysia

Part 4:  Bluegrass/Fescue

Part 5:  Dichondra

Bluegrass/Fescue is a common mix of grass seeds that results in a dark green, dense, tightly knit lawn, and lasts an entire season.  The most commonly used variety is from Kentucky (hence Kentucky Bluegrass, the music genre)  and it is very heat tolerant, thanks to years evolving under the pressing heat of a Kentucky summer.  It is said to be exceptional at warding off disease, and is another favorite for golf courses worldwide.  It is very nutritious, so it can be used as meadow or pasture grass for livestock to feed on.  Fescue can be easily established on bare ground, so it is a great seed for reclaiming a drought eroded area.  The dust bowl that devastated the southern United States in the 1930’s owed its recovery to fescue and bluegrass.  Fescue is often used as feed for horses as well, until a bout of poisoning was traced back to fescue, and it hasn’t been the same since.

There’s really not much else to say about fescue, it’s grass, it’s green, it needs water and sunlight to grow, and then animals eat it.  Then it grows again.  Grown men play golf and football on it.  Hippies don’t smoke it, and that’s about it.  Thanks for reading.