We recently moved and have a new yard that is heavily shaded with oak trees in Cypress Texas. A buddy told there was a brand invented by an Aggie that worked well in these conditions. Has anyone ever heard of this or solved this kind of problem before? We did trim the trees to bring in more light, but need to plant some grass to cover the dirt.

Our landscaper recommended Palmetto St. Augustine for shady areas. It grew great in one spot of our yard and died in another spot. Although I think that was likely my fault for not ensuring adequate sprinkler coverage last Summer.

Growing up in a really shaded neighborhood in Lake Highlands, nothing ever grew until my parents put in fescue. That did great. We were shaded enough that it didn't wilt and did great. My backyard has St. Augustine and we are super shaded and I am considering spreading some fescue as well.

I just completely re-did my front yard. Killed out all of the old St Augustine, top dressed with good soil/compost and spread a lot of bermuda grass seed. The bermuda seed in the sun has done great, very little germinated in the share as I suspected. I came back with a tall fescue seed in the shaded areas and it is doing really well. This is South of San Antonio.

Try tall fescue.

I'm in the Houston area and have two large live oaks. Put down palisades zoysia 5 years ago and it's doing well.

St Augustine Cobalt is the new STA invented by Aggies. Supposed to be the most disease, drought and shade tolerant of all other STA. Wanted to get it this year, but it was brand new and the price was double the STA Palmetto. In hindsight, should've done it.

St. Augustine does well in the shade once it is established. Tough to get st augustine started in the shade though in my experience. My yard is st augustine, but I have no idea what variety. Planted long before I moved in.

In my experience, St Augustine is the most shade resistant grass you can get. If that doesn't work where you want it, monkey grass does well in shade, as does Asian Jasmine or lots of other ground covers. If you have multiple live oaks or other evergreens that form a canopy, I'd give up on grass.

When I lived in Seguin and almost all of my trees were Pecans, the sun my StA got when the pecan leaves dropped was just enough to keep it going thru the rest of the year. (I had 17 pecan trees on about 3/4 an acre, so it was very shaded late spring thru fall.)

Fescue is going to hate the heat and be more disease prone than StA in prolonged wet conditions. It will also stay green most of the winter while other grasses go dormant. So, if you mix Fescue in shady parts of a lawn with other grasses in the sunny spots, be prepared for the fescue to want to go dormant when it is 100 and be green in the winter while the others will want to go dormant in the winter and be green in the summer.

Thisguy1 said:

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I always hear about these new varieties that are supposed to do well in the shade. I've yet to see one.

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Marketing.

robbio said:

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I use asiatic jasmine under my oak trees and sculpt it with my weed eater

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For heavy shade, this is the answer.

I can tell you that a couple of years ago, I tried one of the new versions of St. Augustine, that was hawked by Scott's as the best thing since sliced bread. It was a variety called ProVista. What a waste of my $2500. The grass farm I obtained it from has since told me they advise against it due to all the issues. Best to stick with the old standards.

NoahAg said:

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I'm in the Houston area and have two large live oaks. Put down palisades zoysia 5 years ago and it's doing well.

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This is what my yard guy put down last year in Houston w quite a bit of shade, seems to do well

https://neilsperry.com/2018/02/grass-wont-grow-shade/

End of story

oh no said:

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I found that this stuff works great in both sun and shade. Stays green all year long, too. ..and no mowing required. Ever. Just blow leaves off it somewhat regularly and spread & rake some infill occasionally.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/SYNLawn-SYNLush-Olive-12-ft-Turf-RB-12-ft-Wide-Fescue-Cut-to-Length-Artificial-Gras/1002559632

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Do your own DD with stuff like this. There may be links between synthetic turf and cancer....

Thank you to everyone!!!

Uh oh. I already turfed my back yard a few years ago. It's been great. Shady areas that always had trouble growing grass stay lush and green. No watering. No mowing. Kids and dog can swim, jump in and out of the pool, and zero mud gets tracked anywhere. Dog is trained to piss on the side where I still have St Aug. and he can run around the pool on the turf playing fetch without making a muddy dog run on the grass.

Red Pear Realty said:

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oh no said:

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I found that this stuff works great in both sun and shade. Stays green all year long, too. ..and no mowing required. Ever. Just blow leaves off it somewhat regularly and spread & rake some infill occasionally.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/SYNLawn-SYNLush-Olive-12-ft-Turf-RB-12-ft-Wide-Fescue-Cut-to-Length-Artificial-Gras/1002559632

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Do your own DD with stuff like this. There may be links between synthetic turf and cancer....

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Turf can also carry bacteria from things like dog and other animal turds.

Cobalt is fantastic…had it for over a year now.

I agree w/Sperry up to this point he makes:

Quote:

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Your best choices of groundcovers to grow in the shade include regular mondograss (monkeygrass), liriope, English ivy, purple wintercreeper euonymus, Asian jasmine, ferns and, in South Texas, Algerian ivy and ardisia. Ajuga is handsome, but limit your plantings due to its susceptibility to disease.

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Not a native plant in there at all, that was always my biggest beef w/Sperry. He was very old school in that regard.

I would also add a couple of tips for attempting to establish & grow grass in shade:
1. Plant the grass in fall when all the deciduous trees have dropped leaves. The additional sun will give the sod some energy to establish a root system when not growing blades. This will help in the spring/summer during heavier shade.

2. Let the grass grow as tall as you can stand. 3-1/2-4" ht. Those blades are like little solar panels, gathering energy to grow. The bigger the "solar panel" the more light gathering ability, the more they can photosynthesize & the healthier the grass.

What about the new Scott's glyfos resistant variety? Does anyone have experience with it?
I know King Ranch Turff has some growing out on 290 but not sure if it's for sale yet.

That is the Provista that will not do well for you. I wasted $2500 on it. Caveat emptor, you will be sorry. Four Season Turf Farms tried and quit growing it due to problems.

Mas89 said:

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What about the new Scott's glyfos resistant variety? Does anyone have experience with it?
I know King Ranch Turff has some growing out on 290 but not sure if it's for sale yet.

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I wouldn't buy anything Scott's

I put down Emerald Zoysia in my shaded areas. It does great in shade. It does not like the too much sun and will dry out rapidly if gets too much summer sun.