Florida can present difficulties when it comes to managing your lawn. Simply put, we don’t always have the lushest of environments. We have to deal with heavy rain, scorching heat, unbearable humidity, super-salty-seaside factors, and, our least favorite, hurricane season. All of that combined makes for less than ideal conditions – especially for that lush, green grass we all want in our lawns.
Each lawn is unique, and each decision for the perfect type of Florida grass will be based on certain factors – like irrigation style, proximity, weather patterns, etc. Below we’ve listed some of our favorite Florida grasses that thrive in the environment Florida offers us – with proper care and maintenance, of course!
St. Augustine Grass
Also known as Stenotaphrum Secundatum, this is the most common type of grass in Florida. It’s popularity is due to the fact that it is able to grow very quickly, it’s very drought tolerant, and it doesn’t bat an eyelash at high salt levels as part of its environment.
The downsides to St Augustine Grass is also that it grows fast, so keeping up with maintenance is a must. It’s also not the best for those brief cold snaps Florida’s winters tend to throw at us. There are several varieties of St. Augustine Grass that could be a good choice for you, including options like:
- Floratam St. Augustine Grass—cost-effective, blue-green, and turf like.
- Seville St. Augustine Grass—fine leaved, dark-green, and perfect for sun or shade.
- Palmetto St. Augustine Grass— hardy, emerald-green, and very appealing.
- Bitter Blue St. Augustine Grass—chinch-bug resistant, blue-green, and cold-tolerant.
Zoysia Grass
Zoysia Grass has a deep, dark-green richness that’s beautiful and can handle the heat – literally. Some varieties such as “el toro” are more light emerald green when healthy. Sometimes a dark green color can be an indication of too much nitrogen and can be detrimental to the health of the plant. Zoysia Grass is a great choice for Florida lawns that see a lot of traffic (and we mean golf course level traffic), is near coastal areas, and gets lots of quality sunshine. Zoysia Grass is incredibly drought tolerant, stands tough against disease, and isn’t too picky about shade.
It’s considered a low maintenance grass, which makes it perfect for people who don’t have a lot of resources or time to maintain it. The best part is it’s super dense, which means weeds usually aren’t a huge problem.
This type of grass tends to go dormant if a random Florida frost hits, but once you get your soil’s temp back up to the low-to-mid 70s, growth resumes as usual.
Bermuda Grass
Also known as Cynodon Dactylon, Bermuda grass has a unique color, like a deep green-gray, and very deep roots which makes it incredibly resistant to problems we often deal with in Florida—weeds, high-traffic, drought, etc. It can put up with the tough stuff while maintaining its beauty. It grows rapidly and doesn’t require much maintenance, which, unfortunately, means it can be a little bit hard to curb – in other words, if you don’t take proper care of it, it can be relatively invasive. But, with regular maintenance and a solid watering routine, you can keep your Bermuda Grass healthy all year long.
Bahiagrass
Also known as Paspalum Notatum, Bahiagrass is very common in Florida because it’s naturally resistant to stress, cooler temperature, sun, drought, and other harsh Florida conditions. The best part about this grass is it’s beautiful, easy to care for, requires very little irrigation, and thrives in the hot, dry climate Florida offers. The downside to Bahiagrass is it requires more maintenance than other types of grass. You will need to mow it weekly and you certainly need to keep an eye out for weeds – they tend to pop up more frequently than in other grass types.
Are you trying to decide what type of grass you want for your lawn? Or maybe you need help maintaining the grass you currently have. Our team at Brock Lawn and Pest Control understands that maintaining a healthy, pest-free lawn, especially in Florida, can be a hard task as a homeowner or business owner! That is why we have well-trained, licensed technicians and an exceptional program that will tend to your yard for the entire year. Our lawn program is designed with 6 timely applications to provide the proper balance of nutrients that your lawn needs. Having regularly scheduled lawn care will allow these nutrients to provide you with a strong, healthy growing lawn. Take your lawn back and enjoy your yard again with Brock Lawn and Pest Control!
As a locally owned and operated lawn care company, we proudly serve Florida’s Gulf Coast and northern counties with offices in Panama City, Fort Walton and Panama City Beach.
Have a lawn emergency? We provide same day services! Contact our team today.
