Hello! Our backyard has beautiful pecan trees that provide shade all day long. I have beautiful Annual Rue grass all winter but obviously it’s not gonna tolerate our summer heat.
We have two small children who love to play and run outside, so we are looking for shade-tolerant turf grass/lawn options.
I looked at the Native American shade grasses, but they seem much taller/longer than we want right now.
It seems like St. Augustine might be our best bet but I’d love your opinions AND WOULD LOVE TO SEE PICTURES IF YOU HAVE A SIMILAR SITUATION!
(We considered ground cover, but I don’t think it’ll hold up well to our walking/running/picnics).
Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
by Impossible-Two8220
4 Comments
You might need to get a SunCalc (or similar) and see how much sun you get.
Palmetto (or Amerishade) are the most shade-tolerant St. Augustine, but it still needs 4 hours of direct sunlight and can tolerate 6 to 8 hours of dappled light. We have Palmetto. It will need water to thrive.
Zoysia (Zeon or Emerald) can work with about the same light requirements, if you want a different texture.
I’ve heard there is a Texas Bluegrass Hybrid that is highly shade-tolerant and stays green year-round, but I’ve never seen it.
Neil Sperry recommends Mondo Grass (which is actually a lily). Dwarf Mondo looks great and it exactly the right height, but it grows sooooooooo slooooooooow. Not sure it would hold up to kid traffic either.
Beauty Berry!
There is one shade-tolerant grass that would probably work there if you can find it and that’s Nimblewill. It’s a native, rhizamatous low growing muhly. Muhlenbergia scherberi. There used to be a guy out in Bastrop who grew it but he passed away. I think your best bet here is to sow seed. From what I understand it comes up rather quickly.
Horseherb is a native groundcover that feels great underfoot. I have some by my tomatoes and it tolerates my fat behind walking on it so I’m sure the kids would be fine. It will work in shades Frogfruit would also work but I’m not sure how it would hold up to traffic . These are native ground covers but not a grass. St Augustine is water hungry so probably not great for where you are