Selecting the Proper Grass Landscape Design Mrs. Clinkscales

Turf Background Among the oldest plants used for landscaping Most common for surfacing an outdoor room Many uses: – Lawn – Recreation Sports Fields and Parks

Contributions of the Turfgrass A turfgrass is a grass cover on a site to prevent erosion, reduce dust, glare, and reduce temperature. Also it is used as a playing surface for sports. The erosion control on road sides, lawns, and playgrounds can be measured in thousands of acres of land saved each year or in millions of dollars saved by the public or taxpayer.

Turf Business – 1993 Statistics Americans spent over 45 BILLION dollars maintaining lawns, golf courses, parks, roadsides, and other turf areas Over 1 million people were employed in the turf industry, which excess the petrochemical industry in the US Turf is maintained on 35 million acres in the US, 10 million in the Southern states Roadsides account for nearly 1/3 of the acreage

What to think about during selection… Life Cycle Growth Habit Texture, Color, Density Size of Seed Soil and Climatic Tolerance Use Tolerance Disease and Insect Resistance

Comparison of Turfgrasses Most turfgrasses in landscapes are perennial What does perennial mean? – Survives from year to year – May go dormant, but doesn’t completely die during the winter months

Based on the different ways new shoots are produced: – Rhizome producing Shoots are produced as horizontal underground stem – Stolon producing Shoots are above ground stems – Bunch-Type Shoots are produced from the sides of the plant Growth Habits

Growth Habit Examples

Texture, Color, and Density Texture – way to describe the width of the grass leaf (blade) – Wider blade = courser texture – Generally, finer textures are more attractive, which means more expensive Color – vary from pastel greens to dark, bluish tones Density – the number of leaf shoots that a single plant will produce – Ranges from sparse to thick

Seed Size Fine textured = very small seeds Course textured = larger seeds – SO… a pound of fine-textured seeds contains more seeds than a pound of course textured seeds – More seeds can plant more land at once $ This is something to think about when comparing the price per pound of seeds!

Soil and Climatic Conditions Like most plants, do best in good quality, well drained soils Other conditions: – Humidity – Sun/Light tolerance – Temperature

Cool VS. Warm Grasses are categorized based on the temperature at which they grow best: – Cool season: daytime temps of 60° to 75° F – Warm season: daytime temps of 80° to 95° F

Use Tolerance How well does a grass hold up to being walked on and “played” on? We call walking on grass “traffic”.

Disease and Insect Resistance Some plants are naturally resistant, while others have been improved by scientists Traits to improve: Color, drought resistance, insect resistance, disease resistance, shade tolerance, traffic tolerance Unimproved grasses can cost more money and labor because they are not resistant to those things.

Activities Color on your map what the average temperatures are, create a color key to show the average temperature in the United States Classify the grasses to be either cool season or warm season