It crawls like Bermuda grass, into garden beds. That's all I know.

I heard the lady at the garden center talking about what a pain in the neck her Zoysia is.. she said the maintenance of it was crazy and she didn't even like it. I thanked her because I had been considering using Zoysia on some paths.

I love my Zoysia! We had it installed in June 2004 with sod (before the drought) and it has done so well. It does creep like Bermuda but nowhere near as fast as Bermuda; plus the runners are much thicker and way easier to dislodge than Bermuda which is very hard to remove. I trim it once a year with a sharp shovel to keep it within bounds (very easy). Believe me, I HATE Bermuda and am still trying to get it out of places from the small amount that was in the fescue lawn BEFORE.

I don't fertilize it, don't use weed and feed and it is beautiful looking. Mow it with a regular lawn mower. To me, grass is the feature in the garden for which I want to spend the least amount of time; zoysia has made that possible.

Compared to fescue, we mow it less, it looked good in the drought, we don't have to overseed in the fall and you can use the annual trimmings to plug into any bad spots (in January 2005 we had some damage after an ice storm because the ice sat on the grass - no sign of that now, it repaired perfectly). The creeping nature of it keeps it full in the middle as it is constantly replenishing itself.

I am just north of Atlanta. Our guy recommended that it be installed in late May/early June when it is actively growing; he did not recommend installing dormant sod.

The previous owner of our house put patches of zoysia in sometime before we got here. It has spread nicely and chokes out the bermuda when they meet. It will take a few more years to overtake all of it though. I agree that it does creep into my beds but I pull stray clumps once or twice a season...the weedy bermuda is so obnoxious to pull out and if I stood on the front porch, I swear I could hear it growing. The zoysia clumps are no harder to pull out of my beds than the fescue, no where close to the pain of bermuda. I love the feel of it under my feet. We mow with a regular mower also.

irislover, do you know what cultivar of zoysia you have? And do you mind telling me where in NC you are? How much do you water it in the summer?

All the experts at NCState say that zoysia is the best choice for this area and that it will eventually crowd out bermuda.

I know you didn't ask me, but I don't water my grass.

Thank you for the responses. I was curious about the water requirements, as it is supposedly less drought tolerant than bermuda and centipede, and I seem to hear mixed things about how much water it needs. esh ga, to you have emerald or some other cultivar?

I have 'Meyer'. Of course I did water it some the first year to get it going (you would have to do that with anything), but haven't since then.

hi again! I don't water my lawn. I use rain barrels for my gardens so not much of any extra water ever ends up on the grass. As for cultivar, I have no idea since we inherited it. I am in southwest Wake county.

Have a great day!
Meredith