Subject: Good Grass for Shade?

From: [email-masked] (Rick Weaver)
Date: 23 Mar 1995 14:33:42 GMT

Does anyone know of a good southern grass for full shade?
If you recommend a cool season grass, I need a warm
season grass, too.  Summers are long here in Memphis.

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 23 Mar 95 20:02:55 -0600

> season grass, too.  Summers are long here in Memphis.

I'm in Louisiana, so I think we're close enough to be "climate compatible."
We have four huge Live Oaks that entertwine forming a canopy of limbs --
obviously VERY shady.  The ground only gets filtered light, and not much
of that.  The only grass I've been able to grow is St. Augustine, and it
has done amazingly well.  Your ground needs to be loose (places in ours that
were firmly packed are still kind of bare).  If you buy it in squares w/ sod,
it'll do better.  But once you get it going, you can use the runners to root
in places as fill-in.  Keep it damp, and by the end of the summer, it'll be
spreading like wildfire!  It's also very hardy and easy to care for.
Another cover that looks good if the grass still refuses to grow is a
jasmine ground cover.  English ivy is nice, too.  Good luck.

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 23 Mar 95 20:02:55 -0600

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From: [email-masked] (Christine Owens)
Date: 25 Mar 1995 14:14:52 GMT

>season grass, too.  Summers are long here in Memphis.

Crabgrass seems to grow just fine in the shade around here.  :)
Other than that, I really haven't found any grasses that do
well in the shade.  Plant groundcover, it will be less work in
the long run.

Chris Owens

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From: [email-masked] (OkieDeb)
Date: 25 Mar 1995 19:20:17 -0500

Mowing grass is a pain in the rear.  Why not plant some periwinkle (vinca
minor) and you won't have to do much of anything once it's established.

>From what I have read, there is no such thing as grass that does well in
shade.

Debby