What is the “best” lawn grass to plant in eastern North Carolina?
No perennial cool season lawn grasses (Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, creeping/red fescue, or perennial ryegrass) are normally recommended for eastern North Carolina lawns. In rare cases, tall fescue can be utilized in heavy clay soils or for a low maintenance grass in utility areas. No single species of lawn grass is best for all people and all situations. Choose a lawn grass based upon maintenance, your immediate environmental conditions, and your lifestyle. Utility and low maintenance lawns not exposed to salt spray and/or heavy traffic: Dry sites – centipedegrass, bahiagrass, common bermudagrass Wet sites – carpetgrass Shaded sites – centipedegrass Medium maintenance lawns exposed to salt spray and/or heavy traffic: With irrigation: St. Augustinegrass – var. ‘Raleigh’, Zoysiagrass (var. El Toro), and Bermudagrass (var. Tifton 10) Without irrigation: common bermudagrass (new seeded hybrids or var. Tifton 10), St Augustinegrass (var. Raleigh) Shaded sites: St Augustinegrass (var. R
