We are about to add some sod to our backyard to make a play place for our little one. My wife is allergic to Bermuda, so we are trying to stay away from those varieties as much as possible. The grass will have full sun in the Phoenix heat. We were looking at St. Augustine, but one place tells us it wound so well without partial shade and the next says it will be fine with full sun. So which one do we believe. Opinions on different varieties that will work for our yard are welcome. (Fake turf will not be an option).

Thanks.

I've never used it, but how about that Zoysia grass?

My favorite is Midnight Bluegrass, but not sure how that works in Arizona.

St Augustine does well in partial shade and does well in full sun as long is it gets enough water.

Centipede does better in full sun with less water , but isn't worth a crap in shade. It will die our in the shady areas.

Speaking from Texas and South Carolina experience.

I didn't even know they used grass in Phoenix!

There may be a variety of buffalo grass that would work; especially if there’s a sterile variety that only propagates vegetatively.

St. Augustine takes full sun. It is deep shade that it doesn't like.

If you are used to finer grasses, St. Augustine will seem like a weed to you, though.

Bermuda is the other obvious hot weather choice, but for you it isn't.

I've never had zoysia.

 
We live in AZ, a little higher than the valley but we still get plenty of sun and heat in the summer. About 12 years ago I created a grass plot for our dogs to lounge in. I did not want the hassle of a bunch of little sprinklers that would be necessary for any sort of rectangular plot, so I installed an impact sprinkler, turned it on, and let it define a circular plot that the sprinkler would cover (and overshoot a bit). That's about a 36 foot circle or 1000 sq ft. I sodded bermuda in that circle, which is hardy and comes back strong every spring. The thing I hate about bermuda is that it sends out shoots beyond the circle, which I have to constantly weed whack, or the bermuda starts growing even in the bordering rocks/gravel.
 
Somewhere along the line, in doing a winter overseed, we used a mixture that contained clover, and now we have about 35% clover every year. I wish we had done the whole thing in clover from the git-go. It's nice and soft and hardy here. It comes back strong (and seems to spread a bit each year). You might consider that. You can tell the clover in this pic by its being a darker green.
 

 

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:
Somewhere along the line, in doing a winter overseed, we used a mixture that contained clover, and now we have about 35% clover every year. I wish we had done the whole thing in clover from the git-go. It's nice and soft and hardy here. It comes back strong (and seems to spread a bit each year). You might consider that.

Some years ago I was reading something, maybe something about the history of lawns in the U.S., and read that, once-upon-a-time people in the U.S. used clover if they wanted green carpets in their yards.

IIRC, the article claimed the modern-day prevalence of grass is the result of a determined propaganda/marketing effort by the industries that sell products to grow and support it. IIRC, the article claimed clover is hardier, easier to grow and has a much lower negative environmental impact than grasses.

Anyway... be that as it may: Call me a victim of the Grass Cartel, but clover was getting way out-of-hand in what passes for "lawn" in our yard, so I took Round-Up weed and clover killer to it last week. The clover ain't lookin' happy, right now.

St. A does well in full sun, and it's also considered by many the best for light-medium shade, too.

Zoysia is has been around awhile gaining popularity in residential applications. I almost put it in my backyard, but wanted Zorro Zyosia, which is supposedly especially good for shade, but it seems to be in questionable supply in Texas currently, so I'm going with St. A.

There are many Zoysia choices. Palisades is one that's popular.

There are some that are fine bladed and some thicker. I don't recall which are best for full sun, and how it would do in your exact area, but it does well in Texas and across the south. The finer bladed Zoysias can be very pleasant to walk on, like carpet.

I'd be sure and investigate whatever you're considering as far as it also being a potential allergen for your wife, and not just assume if it's not bermuda, it won't be a problem.

I know exactly what you mean about getting conflicting info. I've been working for weeks on choosing a grass as well as shrubs and other plants for my fairly shady backyard, and I constantly see one website claim something does well in x-amount of shade while another says it needs full sun. Even the so-called experts you talk to in person tell you different things.

What HJE888 said - St. Augustine > full sun.
Zoysia is very similar but more exotic, requires less water, more shade tolerant and much more expensive.

See if this link doesn’t help you.

https://bethelfarms.com

I’ve used Palmetto st A before and it does very well in shady areas and thrives in full sun. But AL is more humid than AZ.

There are many types of St. Augustine grass. The local garden center here sells a variety of St. A sod for shade and then the regular variety of St. A sod for sun. The OP might consider buying two type of St. A sod based on amt of sun it receives. For example, in x0225095's link there is floratam St. A that thrives in full sun and bitter blue St. that thrives in the shade.

I'm pretty sure my builder only installed the full sun variety everywhere at my house (it was sodded before I bought it), and it's doing spectacular in full sun and partial shade. However, the narrow side of my house with a 6' fence next to it isn't fairing as well, but I'm not sure if it's the shade or if it's how wet it stays (it's part of terrain sloping away from house and toward the street to channel water to street).

I suggest going to Arizona Agriculture Extension service.

https://extension.arizona.edu/

In my state (Florida), this department has a wealth of
information on anything that you wish to grow.
Hope this helps, Jack