Yellow pages. Grass. I see that you are in zone 7? You might want Palmetto variety due to its cold hardiness. Sometimes, I see them at Lowes, HD and garden centers like Calloway (the only place that I saw Palmetto plugs this year).

For sods, you want the freshest possible so avoid Lowes, Home Depot, garden centers, etc. Try Turfgrass America if there's one close by you for you to buy pieces.

Where are you at?

If you are in zone 7, you should NOT be growing St. Augustine grass. Tall Fescue is a much better choice.

If you don't want a cool season grass, then go with Zoysia or Bermuda. They have a much better cold tolerance than St. Augustine - specially Zoysia.

If you are in zone 7, you should NOT be growing St. Augustine grass.

Strange, I am a sod farmer in Zone 7, grow and sell a lot of Saint Augustine. SA is a very popular grass around here for shady lawns. Guess I shouldn't, but I will continue as I always have for the last 20-years. Fescue on the other hand will not last a day in July here.

I'm beginning to think auteck is a fescue salesman.

heelsfan,

LOL... I actually do not care for fescue. I do not like the bunch looks and coarse bladed turf it produces.

I grew up in South Florida, St. Augustine RULES down there - zone 10 and 11. It's VERY well adapted because the weather is VERY conducive - It never goes dormant.

I'm in zone 7b, Central North Carolina, I have never seen a St. Augustine Lawn up here. I've seen some Zoysias, Bermudas, and a handful of Centipede (wich should not be grown up here) but never St. Augustine.

It's fescue country up here, but I don't grow it. I prefer Kentucky Bluegrass or Perennial Rye - or even Fine Fescue. But Tall Fescue is out of the question for me.

Anyway, I'm willing to bet, Mr. Sod Farmer, fescue will not die in July if cared for it properly, while St. Augustine could die with a simple cold front regardless how much you can take care of it.

Where exactly are you?

Where exactly are you?

I am north of DFW somewhere near I-35 and the Red River Valley. I grow 3 varieties, Bermuda, Zoysia, and Saint Augustine. Tried Fescue several years ago, but demand is non existent, and since I guarantee all my sod, went broke replacing soon after it died in customers yards during summer months. In this area there is no snow ball chance in He!! for fescue unless your lot is shaded, irrigation installed, and replanted every Fall. About the only use for Fescue here is overseeding in the fall with a creeping variety, only to be killed off by either Atrazene or summer heat.

The other three types are the only ones that will do extremely well here. Some SA varieties could have a problems north of the Red River from winter kill, but Texas Common is very cold tolerant and a solid performer.

Dallas zone 7 ? Maybe for cold hardiness, but as far a heat, forget it! You have brutal summers compare to our summers.

I think your average homeowner is not going to water or care for a fescue lawn the way it should during the hot summer months, hense the results.

I don't blame you for now wanting to grow fescue in Dallas or anywhere near, I wouldn't. I will grow bermuda Princess 77 with perennial ryegrass during the cooler months.

Auteck-

Dallas isn't in zone 7. More like 8a zone.Maybe 7b further up north depending on which map you use. Latest USDA hardiness zone map shows 8a now. I live in 8a right south of Dallas and I've temperature as low as 16* and my st Augustine survived just fine. I've never seen fescue around here even though Lowe's and Home Depot sell them. I even grew them for giggles and fun behind my backyard to see how they turn out and it didn't take long for hot weather to kill them.

St augustine is lot easier to work with than bermuda grass for sure... It's basically, mow and forget. I water it twice a month during hottest part of summer. St augustine hides weed very well. Weeds stick out like sore thumb in bermuda lawns in my neighborhood. Bermuda takes over flower bed, etc if you don't have barrier put in 6 inches deep and 6 inches wide because they spread underground. With st augustine, they only spread by above ground runner and you just trim it off with string trimmer.

Floratam st augustine is the king of all st aug varieties for zone 9 area in Texas. It outperforms zoysia for drought tolerant too. I've read that Floratam st aug survived O-5*F weather back in 1983 and 1989 with proper care but it's very rare weather event. I suspect I have Floratam but I'm not able to confirm it but it grows well up here anyway.

I talked to a guy in West Texas that his common st augustine has survived 0*F and 110*F weather routinely. It doesn't even rain much either and that he doesn't water them much. I think common Texas Augustine has the ability to adapt to the area/climate because they can reproduce fertile seeds. I'll have to dig up info on that.

I'd rather have trees than bermuda here. It gets too hot so it's not worth the trouble having bermuda lawn on treeless lot when you can have shade and st aug growing when bermuda can't thrive in partial shade....

Wow! I've been singing the praises of SA in another thread but I see I've come to the right thread where people have experienced growing St. Augustine in cooler climates than zone 10 and people appreciate it's quality.

Autek I've seen you post many times Princess 77 with rye overseeding First off why weaken your bermuda with rye that sometimes will presist well into June? Next why recommend a not so good bermuda? If I'm going bermuda then I'm going with tif sport or if it must be seed I'd look into Yukon a much better variety.

Lou said:
I suspect I have Floratam but I'm not able to confirm it but it grows well up here anyway.

I don't know, Floratam is a very good SA but has very poor cold tolerance and pretty restricted to I-10 and south of there. I do not know of any sod farms in north TX that carry it. Most of what you find in DFW and surrounding area is Raleigh, Del Mar, Texas Common, and a little Palmetto here and there. Raleigh and Common are the majority in our area.

Texas-Weed-

I'm very well aware of Floratam's reputation for weak cold tolerance. I'm just giving some info that I found when I googled it. I thought it was interesting. South of I-10? Really... The farthest North it can be sold is in Conroe which is about 50 miles north of I-10. I should know. I called around looking for places to pick up fresh pieces of Floratam on the way to my mom's house off I-45.

When I ordered 6 pallets of Palmetto for my backyard, I noticed after 1 month, I saw a different color in various place and wondered why that is. Not only that, it established pretty quickly (installed during july 2005) and started growing quickly. The stolons were thick and red-purplish which are chacteristics of Floratam so I called Turfgrass america where I got grass from and had someone come over and look at it. He said that the sod farm doesn't grow floratam where palmetto is so it can't be floratam. He said it's Raleigh instead. The problem is that my neighbor down the street has Raleigh and no way they look anywhere alike. If anything Raleigh is more similar to Palmetto. If that was Raleigh, I wouldn't have that kind of winter kill like i did with "Floratam". Floratam also has a reputation for its aggressive lateral spread which I can see that happening right now and filled in nicely. Only Sapphire variety can match that. I'm stumped at the moment whether it's really floratam or genetic mutation of Palmetto, who knows?

Del Mar? Overpriced slow-ass st augustine. Only fools will spend that much on this variety. Sure it looks nice but when a disease strike and kills a large portion, its gonna take a while to fill in.

Is your Texas Common that good? It seems that from what I've read, it isn't all that great compared to other varieties but what do I know. I'm pretty sure we have that at my mom's in houston along with Del Mar, Raleigh, Palmetto, Sapphire, common bermuda, El Toro Zoysia... Will try and introduce Floratam there. From there on, it's a battle for survival of fittest... The only water they get is rainfall. they are on their own.

Lou keep your pants on dude, I wasn't calling you a liar. Only 9 sod farms in TX grow Florantam. all located between Houston and Brownsville. Yes Turfgrass America is one of them, and the farm is in Bay City SE of Houston with outlets located around the Houston Metroplex including Conway. Here is a dirctroy of all the TX sod farms with the varieties they grow. If you GOOGLE the nine towns you will quickly notice they are all centered SE of Houston and a few around Brownville. Everything within 200 miles of DFW is Raliegh, Common, some Del Mar, and very little Palmetto.

If I were going to have SA personally I would choose Palmetto, it is fine bladed and mistaken for Fescue. It is very cold tolerant and can stay green year round in even NC. Problem is it is still a realatively new variety and not widely available so it is hard to find and expensive.

http://www.txsod.com/directory.html

When my brother came up here to visit from Houston last year, I gave him pieces of Sapphire for him to play with at mom's house. He had killed off a portion of yard and planted them there. I was shocked when I came down to Houston to see that the whole area was already filled in before the winter came. It was 12'x8' area with tiny portion with Sapphire that managed to fill in before winter came. It is THAT AGGRESSIVE.

For zone 8 or warmer, they'd make great plugs. I'd still recommend Floratam for zone 9 for lazy people that doesn't water or anything. Sapphire looks very nice when decently maintained. If anything, I'm scared to give sapphire some fertilizers at this time cuz I'd be mowing everyday.

Lou Texas Common main downfall is SAD and Cinch Bugs, which is easily prevented. As you know there is no perfect SA or any other type of grass. You just have to examine your local conditions and determines what works best. In you case it sounds like you made the right choice south of DFW with trees. Godo Luck, and have a happy 4th.

What is the price per pallet for Palmetto? You said expensive so I'm curious just how expensive???

I have to admit Palmetto has better cold tolerance than Sapphire so Palmetto looks better for a few weeks but Sapphire catches up very quickly and actually looks better now. Seems to do better in hot weather and goes a bit longer between watering despite the fact they get blistering afternoon sun till sunset. This is from last year when I planted Sapphire in front yard in late February and summer came much earlier. So far I am very impressed with Sapphire. At this point, I give an edge to Sapphire...

Lou I do not grow or sell it. It is like new varieties of Zoysia so it is scarce and mostly available in plugs. Prices I hear are from 300 to 500 per pallet. If yo use the directory I pointed to, call the ones near DFW. I am sure it depends on how much you want, and if you use them to lay and transport it. I would be interested as I have toyed with the idea of getting the liscense to grow and sell it.

This is directed mainly at Lou is he stops by...

After the winter we had, I'm just curious how your different St. Aug varieties have fared, especially the Sapphire. Pics are great too if you have them!