Where in northern CA do you live (city/zipcode)? What type bermuda was installed? Who installed it? Where was the bermuda grown/sourced? Can you provide picture of you lawn?

95070. Tifway419. Delta sod farm (only sells to licensed contractors; which I used). You'll see in the photo below -- this was taken at about 2 p.m. and the shade will continue to move such that there will be less and less shad covering the grass as the afternoon goes on. (When looking at photo, the shade moves right to left). I hope this makes sense :)

OK, Bay Area/ San Jose. The grass will love the heat and humidity. The shade may be problematic. Not just the shade from the tree (which can easily be trimmed higher) but the shade from the fence, the house's overhang, and even the shade from the brick flower beds. They should have went with Celebration bermuda just to be on the safe side.

Make sure you feed it well. That will give you a better chance for survival. If area underperform then try Celebration in those spots. It still need 6 hrs of sun per day to look it's best though.

I forgot to ask are you mowing/trimming yourself or using a service? If it's a service are they familiar with bermuda lawn care? height of cut? frequency of cut, etc.

Bermuda Bible

Thanks for tips. I guess we will have to see.... If it does not do well, you said to try the other (celebration) in those spots - would be do that from seeds? Or rip out that portion and put in sod as well? And we are planning to take care of it ourselves :0 I hear it needs to be mowed at least once/week. I've been reading several articles w/tips, but appreciate your suggestions, too.

@hawksster

Looks like your package is at the post office :-). Must be a printed copy of the Bermuda Bible.

Haha that's too funny. Had too much multitasking I guess - link fixed. Nice catch, thanks.

Celebration is only available as sod, no seed. Cutting Bermuda is a whole different topic, but once a week is the bare minimum. Anything over 7 days will make big scalped areas

You need to study the BB then ask questions. There is a lot of information available here and other places. Your lawn may take off pretty soon. If you are not ready to mow it correctly you will hate the way it looks. Bermuda is considered a weed by anyone who has another type of grass. It takes over lawns and is tough to kill. But as a primary lawn it is awesome.

Your watering plan to help establish your sod is going to make your lawn grow. You may need to mow upwards of 3-4 times per week (that's not a typo). I use growth regulators to curb upward growth of my lawn and still have to mow every 3 days, but I have a more aggressive type of bermuda.

Get on a good mowing, pgr (plant growth regulator), pre-emergent, feeding schedule and that lawn will get a very lush, dark green color, and get very dense.