One of the best ways to learn how to take care of your lawn is to look at a lawn calendar. The University of Georgia has some great calendars to refer to that tell you the best times to fertilize, aerate, apply herbicides, and perform other lawn care maintenance. Links to these calendars are below, but you cannot use these calendars effectively unless you know what type of grass you have.
Grass is divided into two broad categories, and those categories are warm season and cool season. Warm season grasses have their peak growing seasons during late spring and early summer. Cool season grasses have peak growth during the cooler temperatures of early spring and early fall. This is essential to know in order to fertilize, aerate, and thatch during the best time of the year. The Northern Georgia climate is suited well for both cool and warm season grasses.
Lawn can be further divided into clumping varieties and spreading varieties. Clumping varieties, like tall fescue, are easier to contain but require reseeding. Spreading varieties repair themselves quickly, but they aren’t as easy to control. You can pare down your options when trying to identify grass by looking at how it grows.
Finally, each grass type has specific attributes that help in identification.
Tall Fescue is generally dark green in color. It has a rolled vernation, which means that new grass growing within the shoot is rolled instead of folded in appearance. Each blade has veins that are equal in size as opposed to one larger, primary vein. There are no auricles on tall fescue, which means there is no “collar” around the sheath of the grass. It does have a membranous tissue around the collar called a ligule.
Bermudagrass is one of the most common types of grass in the region. It is a spreading grass, and it can be very aggressive. The grass tends to be coarse in texture. It has small hairs where new grass meets the sheath. It’s aggressive growth is created by stolons, which can be a very visible way to identify this grass.
The descriptions of tall fescue and bermudagrass may not be enough to help you to identify your grass. That is why it may be useful to contact a lawn care specialist to figure out what type of grass you have. Either way, once you know, your lawn care can be much more specific, and your grass will be more beautiful than ever.
Have questions about your lawn?
Greenfeet Lawncare Provides Service to the Following Areas.
770-619-2929
North Fulton, East Cobb, Cherokee, Forsyth Counties - including Alpharetta, Canton, Cobb, Cumming, Dunwoody, Gwinnett, Johns Creek, Marietta, Milton, Roswell, Sandy Springs
