Fine fescues

Fine Fescues
Region: North of the Mason-Dixon Line
Why we love them: Most of these grasses tolerate shade. Some, like sheep and hard fescue, require little mowing.

Fine Fescues. Most fescues have finer blades than Kentucky bluegrass, and since they do well in shady areas, they are the dominant seeds found in grass mixes for shade. Red fescue and chewings or hard fescue are favorites.

Growing Fine Fescues
Fine fescues are cool-season grasses that do best in the middle Atlantic region and farther north or in high-altitude regions of the middle to lower South. They prefer slightly acid soil (5.5 to 6.5 pH).

Fine fescues such as creeping red, chewings fescue, and hard fescue tolerate dry periods quite well due to their low water requirements.

Option 2: Cultural Control - Use Resistant Turfgrasses - The hairy chinch bug seems to prefer perennial ryegrasses and fine fescues, especially if these are in the sun and have greater than 0.5 inch of thatch.

It can be used by itself as a seeded lawn or in a seed mix with several of the fine fescues (Western Drought Defy™ is one of the fescue-hairgrass mix trade names).

For example, in cool-season areas, fine fescues (hard, chewings and red creeping) are generally recognized as low maintenance grasses, compared with many varieties of bluegrass.

Fine Fescues are more cold and shade tolerant than tall fescue. Fescue grows faster than bermuda and will stand out in a yard that has a mix of grasses, meaning you may have to mow a mixed grass yard a little more often.

But grass blends have a lot to offer, and you might be better off buying grass seed with a blend of bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, and fine fescues. Here are just a few of the reason grass seed blends can be a great choice. ...

The type of grass will vary with locations and climate, but fine fescues and buffalo grass have been getting the most positive press. This is a trend that's just catching on, but it looks like it's growing.

There are also new slow-growing grass varieties (fine fescues, tall fescues, bentgrass, and perennial rye) that take fewer mowings to keep them trim.

See also: Grass, Lawn, Plant, High, Water