Turf Grasses Make Near Perfect Lawns for the St. Louis Climate

My friend recently bought a house in the southwestern part of St. Louis. Like many of the older homes in the area, it has a small front yard that slopes towards the street at a precipitous angle. Mowing the lawn can be somewhat hazardous to the extremities. It’s almost too steep to mow from side-to-side like the mower manufacturer recommends, and besides there are some plants and bushes in the way that makes it dangerous to turn the mower around on such a steep hill. One enterprising homeowner with the same problem used to tie a piece of sturdy rope around the handle of the mower, stand at the top of the hill and let gravity do the work. The only problem with this method is that it requires considerable upper body strength to pull the mower back up the hill. Another way, albeit dangerous, is to push the mower up the hill and then slowly back down bringing it with you. Fortunately, no matter which method you use, you only have to repeat yourself about ten times, there’s such a small area to cover.

The other thing that made me gape somewhat in horror when I saw the lawn for the first time is that it was covered with Zoysia; that bane of South St. Louis grasses. Zotsia was touted as the miracle grass back in the fifties and sixties, and it does have some benefits. It is a particularly hardy grass that loves heat and won’t wilt in the extreme heat and dryness of a St. Louis summer. It grows so thick that it chokes out pretty much any weed, (or other grass), that it comes in contact with. It doesn’t grow very fast and therefore requires less mowing, and the root system is so efficient that it can survive in drought conditions. And, it resists pests and diseases so you won’t need fertilizers and chemicals, which is good for you and the environment. So, sounds like the perfect grass for the perfect lawn, right? Some people think so and swear by it. The only problem is that some of the characteristics that people tout also make it a pain to deal with. Zoysia grows outward along the ground in all directions and can take over an entire neighborhood like the beastly plant Audrey in Little Shop Of Horrors. Some homeowners equate the stuff to a weed, and once it gets going, it’s very hard to kill. It wants to be the only kid on the block and its method of eliminating the competition is to slowly choke it to death.

There are some 58 million Americans searching for the perfect lawn. The search for this status symbol has resulted in a $40 billion a year industry, and yes, all that fertilizer and pesticide runoff isn’t helping the environment either. So, what’s the solution if you don’t want to plant Zoysia, and are looking for a “near” perfect lawn in St Louis?

First of all, lose the perfection. Mixes of two or more varieties of tall turf-type fescues are the answer for our St. Louis lawns. The fescues, with their large root systems, are tolerant of heat and drought, especially if they are mowed high. These mixtures can be planted with a small amount, around 10 percent, of improved Kentucky bluegrass to help fill in thin areas.

Bluegrass-fescue lawns thrive when seeded, sodded, and fertilized in the fall. Heavy fertilizing and watering in the spring will only encourage weeds and lush growth, resulting in weaker grass to withstand the summer heat. If you can stand a little brown, then don’t water so much in the summer and the grass will estivate, that is, go into a semi-dormant state and then green up and grow when the weather turns wet and cooler in the fall. The most important thing that you can do in the summer is to set your mower high. You can’t treat turf grasses like golf greens, those are a different animal altogether.

So mow high, water less, and go easy on the chemicals. There’s nothing wrong with having a dandelion or wildflower or two dotting your lawn. Offering your lawn a little “tough love” can go a long way towards the long-term health of your green.