Turf Varieties
Quick Links
- Summary Table
- Queensland Blue Couch
- Wintergreen
- Soft Leaf Buffalo
- 'Palmetto' Buffalo
- Sweet Smother Grass
- 'Empire' Zoysia Grass
- 'Plateau' Green Couch
Summary Table
| Environmental Conditions | Recommended Turf Variety |
|---|---|
| Sunny with high amounts of traffic | Wintergreen Plateau |
| Shady with high amounts of traffic | Zoysia |
| Partly shady with medium amounts of traffic | Soft Leaf Buffalo |
| Full sun with little amounts of traffic | Queensland Blue Couch |
| Very Shady - 3-4 hours sunlight | Palmetto Buffalo |
| Very Shady - 2-3 hours sunlight | Sweet Smother Grass |
Queensland Blue Couch (Digitaria didactyla)
Queensland Blue Couch is native to Queensland, Far North New South Wales and Western Australia. It is a very soft, deep blue-green, fine textured grass with a fine leaf that is native to the Far North Coast of New South Wales and the Southern Coast of Queensland.
- Excellent sun tolerance.
- Dark blue-green colour created.
- Very soft and comfortable turf.
- Tolerates coastal conditions extremely well.
- Minimal maintenance.
Queensland Blue Couch is the ideal turf for the sunny areas around your house such as the front yard and entertaining areas, as a beautiful dark green lawn is achieved year round with a minimal amount of lawn maintenance.
Wintergreen (Cynodon dactylon)
Common couch is a warm season perennial grass that originated in East Africa. Common couch has both stolons and rhizomes, providing the plant with superior warm climate growth. Green couch ranges from a light green to a dark green colour. It is fine textured grass with a very thin leaf that is capable of withstanding a great amount of wear and tear from traffic (traffic from people walking, cars driving over and sports ovals).
- Excellent traffic tolerance.
- Excellent tolerance of cold and frosty conditions, making it ideal for the hinterland areas of the Tweed and Gold Coasts.
- Readily adapts to different environments (hot and dry conditions, to cold and moist conditions).
- Wintergreen thrives in sunny areas (requiring approximately 7hrs of sunlight a day).
Wintergreen is the ideal turf for areas that receive a great amount of wear and tear from traffic, such as; backyards, caravan parks, sports ovals, council footpaths, car parking lots and walkways.
Soft Leaf Buffalo Grass (Stenotaprum secundatum)
Soft Leaf Buffalo grass is a robust perennial warm season grass that originated from the West Indies and North America. It is a soft, dark green, coarse textured grass with a very broad leaf that grows extremely well in shady areas. The broad leaf of this grass captures more sunlight enabling it to survive in shady areas.
- Excellent shade tolerance, requiring approximately 2-3hrs of filtered sunlight a day (similar to the amount of shade found under a large tree or the amount of shade in between a building and fence 1m apart).
- Excellent tolerance of cold and frosty conditions, making it ideal for the hinterland areas of the Tweed and Gold Coasts.
- Coarse textured grass.
- Low maintenance, once established.
Soft Leaf Buffalo Grass is the ideal turf for shady areas around buildings and under trees, and for those who desire a coarse textured grass.
Palmetto Buffalo (Stenotaprum secundatum spp)
Palmetto Buffalo is a grass that originated in Florida U.S.A. It is an improved variety of soft leaf buffalo grass. Palmetto has a tendency to grow across the ground instead of straight up, reducing mowing frequency and improving traffic tolerance.
- Excellent shade tolerance (requiring only 2hrs of filtered sunlight per day).
- Good traffic tolerance, far superior to the Soft Leaf Buffalo.
- Excellent weed resistance year round (as a thick mat like turf is created).
- Excellent green winter colour, even in frosty conditions
- Less mowing required than Soft Leaf Buffalo, due to Palmettos tendency to grow across the ground instead of straight up.
Palmetto Buffalo is the ideal turf for those who desire a low maintenance coarse textured high quality lawn year round and for areas such as display homes, feature gardens and grassed areas around apartment complexes.
Sweet Smother Grass (Dactyloctenium australe)
Sweet Smother Grass (also known as Durban Grass) originated from South Africa. It is a course textured grass that is lime green in colour with very soft leaves.
- Excellent shade tolerance (requiring only 2hrs of filtered sunlight per day).
- Moderate traffic tolerance.
- Unique course texture created due to 'curly' leaves.
- Very soft luscious grass
- Requires free draining Soil, excellent for sandy soils
Sweet Smother grass is the ideal turf for those who desire a unique coarse textured lawn and for areas such as feature gardens and grassed areas around apartment complexes that suffer from a great amount of shade.
Zoysia Grass ‘Empire’ (Zoysia japonica spp)
Zoysia is a semi-tropical warm season grass that originated from Asia. It is naturally distributed and produced as turf in the eastern temperate regions of Asia. Zoysia propagates from both stolons and rhizomes. The zoysia grasses are a fine textured grass species with an abundance of thin fine leaves that are approximately 2.5mm wide and 40 – 60mm long (Annells, 2002). The appearance of zoysia is similar to the green couch grasses but it has a much stiffer leaf blade (Annells, 2002).
- Excellent shade tolerance (offering a fine textured grass capable of growing in the shade).
- Good traffic tolerance, far superior to the Buffalo grasses.
- Slow growth rate (less mowing required).
- Excellent green winter colour, even in frosty conditions
Zoysia is an ideal option for those that do not desire the course textured Buffalo grasses but still require a grass that is capable of growing in shady conditions and can tolerate a
moderate amount of wear.
Plateau Green Couch (Cynodon dactylon spp)
Plateau is a unique variety of green couch that has a distinct characteristic of slow horizontal growth. The leaves lay prostrate presenting the maximum amount of surface area to the light (forming the low horizontal growth habit). It is a fine textured grass with a very thin leaf that is capable of withstanding a great amount of wear and tear from traffic (traffic from people walking, cars driving over and sports ovals).
- Excellent traffic tolerance.
- Drastically reduced maintenance expenses (less mowing required, approx 70% less).
- Reduced tendency to thatching.
- Less scalping when mown, creating a superior green colour throughout the year.
- Greater shade tolerance than other couch grasses (requiring approximately 5hrs of sunlight a day).
Plateau is the ideal low maintenance turf for homes, parklands, walkways and development estates as it will save a substantial amount of time and money in the ongoing maintenance of that grassed area.