Warm Season Grasses
by Dawn West, All About Lawns Columnist
Warm-Season grasses tend to grow well and flourish in warmer climates, hence the name.
Warm season grasses
Some popular warm season ornamental grasses include Japanese silver, Pampas, Northern sea oats, Perennial fountain, and Prairie cord grass.
WARM SEASON GRASS - These grasses are grown in temperatures above 70 and 80 degrees. They will go dormant in winter. Examples are Bermuda grass, a variety of St. Augustine.
WARM SEASON GRASS: Crops that are harmed by frost and do not grow well until the temperatures are above 70 degrees F.
WATER GARDEN: Any man made pool, forms, or container that aquatic plants are grown.
Warm season grasses such as bermudagrass, zoysiagrass and St. Augustinegrass actually prefer warm conditions and can tolerate most drought conditions due to their deep and extensive root systems.
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Warm season grasses
Warm-season grasses grow best during the summer months, or in areas where frost is rare. When the weather becomes cooler, Alcock says warm season grasses go dormant and turn brown or yellow.
Warm season grasses also handle heat, humidity and drought well. Many popular ornamental grasses are warm season: Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis), Fountain Grass (Pennisetum), Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans), ...
Crabgrass is a warm season grass that does its most vigorous growing in June and July. Crabgrass is killed by the first frost of the season. If you live in a warmer climate it may only go dormant or semi-dormant during the cooler months.
Warm season grasses, such as Bermuda and St. Augustine, have gone dormant for the winter. You can stop feeding them and greatly reduce or eliminate irrigation. If you over seeded your warm season lawn, make sure you continue to water and feed.
Southern lawns (warm season grasses), flourish during the warmer summer months, and therefore tend to require fertilizing shortly after green-up in the spring and again in the late summer months.
Warm season grasses should be mowed when it is 2 to 2-1/2 inches tall. Cut no more than one-third of the grass height at each mowing to avoid damage to plants.
Image by By Matt Lavin Big bluestem grass is a warm season grass suited for arid climates. The grass was once widespread across North America prairies.
There is a drawback associated with using a weed and feed product for preemergence crabgrass control in warm season grasses. At the time preemergence crabgrass herbicides should be applied, warm season grasses in Arkansas are dormant.
Bouteloua gracilis - Blue grama grass - This warm season grass, native to the High Plains, is very drought tolerant. It is a low-growing bunch grass, (1-1 1/2 ft. with the seed heads) that is part sod-forming & can be grown as a tight turf.
Due to Colorado's typical cold, dry winters, spring division, before growth resumes, is the most successful, especially for warm season grasses such as Miscanthus, Pennisetum, big bluestem, little bluestem and switchgrass.
Plant in late fall or early spring for cool season grasses. Warm season grasses should be planted in late spring or early summer. For new construction homes consider a soil test to determine if the soil is sub-soil instead of topsoil.
Warm season grass seed will germinate with minimum soil temperatures of 55 to 65 degrees. Cool season grass seed will germinate with minimum soil temperatures of 45 to 55 degrees.
Sprouts are hungry.
 See also: Grass, Lawn, Soil, Plant, Warm season grasses
  
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