Washington State University says it's not suited. Here is their publication on home lawns. They should know what grows well in Washington State and what doesn't. The extension office in each county can also be helpful.

Absolutely NOT a good choice for the PNW!! It is a warm season grass and this is a cool season turf grass location. It will not tolerate our cool and very dry summers. It won't be dormant and brown for much of the year - it just won't survive. PNW lawns should be a blend of fescues and rye grasses.

PNW turf specialists offer this advice: "Many commonly-grown grass types from other areas of the United States will not thrive in western Washington's cool, dry summer climate. AVOID mixes with high concentrations of Kentucky blue grasses. DO NOT PLANT Zoysia, bermuda, dichondra, centipede, carpetgrass, St. Augustine, or mondograss. Buffalograss isn't suitable for western Washington, though it may thrive in eastern Washington."

If you want to grow a lawn instead of weeds then you need to make the changes and put in the effort to get a good, healthy lawn growing. And that requires some work. OTOH, moss makes a very acceptable and cushy surface to walk on, grows like crazy here and is green year round.

Thank you both, I appreciate your replies. I suppose I haven't arrived at my final answer yet, though. I have read such statements from experts already, as well as online seed suppliers, and they don't truly address the question of survival, simply of suitability for what I assume the average lawn owner is wanting.

The statement about grasses from other areas not thriving in our weather, for example, is speaking of thriving, not surviving (I'm ok if it doesn't grow quickly). It also mentions our cool dry summers, but zoysia is supposed to be extremely drought tolerant, so dry shouldn't be a problem, and I know there are varieties that can survive even as far north as Maryland (south Maryland being zone 8a).

I guess what I'm after is, does anybody have any precise temperature requirements for the most cold-hardy zoysia varieties, and does the amount of rain we get here (November is our wettest month where I'm at, with average around 7-8" over the month) pose a problem for zoysia? (We don't flood on our property.)

Also, any thoughts from someone who has tried growing zoysia in a climate similar to SW WA?

p.s. gardengal, Yes, very true that a healthy lawn requires some work, especially if you're committed to not using chemical herbicides and fertilizers, like myself. I used to put in a lot of hands-on effort on it before I had kids but was working, and just managed to keep it looking good and green. After 5 years of closely-packed childbearing and subsequent exhaustion on my end, it's gone back to its old ways. When it comes to outdoor work I've got enough on my plate growing food without worrying too hard about how green the lawn looks! ;) Which is why my ears perked up when I heard about zoysia. I wouldn't mind moss so much (in fact I love it with clover running under the grass), if the dandelions didn't overrun it. But on that subject, what am I doing wrong so that my moss refuses to be green? Or maybe we are just blessed with that yellowish variety?

To put it as simply as possible, zoysia is a warm season grass, suitable to mild winter, hot summer climates. It will be dormant in winter, offering a dead, brown look from October to March. It doesn't grow well this far north - we are far too cool in summer for it to be happy. Yes, it may survive......but only just and you will have the exact same conditions you are encountering now. A sparsely turfed, weed and moss filled yard. Unless you address the conditions that have resulted in that sort of situation now, planting zoysia is not going to magically create a lush full lawn - the weeds and moss will take over. If that is what you want, go for it. But you will have to order the seed - it is not sold here because it doesn't grow here. And it is very difficult to establish from seed - plugging or sodding is far more effective but at 3-4 times the expense of seed (for plugs, which would also have to be mail ordered. Sod is is just not a practical approach in this area). It also requires 6-8 hours of sunlight to grow and will not tolerate heavy or poorly draining soils. And will require watering during our very dry summers.

And you cannot compare our climate with anywhere else in the US - it is unique. Zone 8 in Maryland is nothing like a WA state zone 8. All that reflects is how cold it may get in winter. It addresses nothing about summer temperatures, humidity or rainfall amounts and patterns. Most of Washington state is further north than just about anywhere else in the continental US - that makes a huge difference in what can and can't be grown here. Or how it's grown.

Yes, I'm aware what hardiness zones are, and that there's more to a climate than its temperature. I know that zoysia is a warm-season grass and what that means, and I'm familiar with how climates and microclimates work and how things grow. I don't expect magical results.

What I don't know are the precise temperature/rainfall requirements of the cold hardier varieties of zoysia and whether anyone has successfully grown it here (for a certain definition of "successfully"). I bother to ask because I know there are certain approaches to getting things to grow where they aren't normally deemed suitable (for example, heard tell of a guy up Kitsap way who was growing his own coffee). I appreciate your input and do get what you've been saying though.

Perhaps I should ask over on the permies forum, though I've never met a permie in love with grass, haha.. but if zoysia is purely a no go, maybe someone has a good idea for alternatives. Thanks again for you time :)

It's uncharted territory, why not try it and let us know how it turns out.

Not uncharted at all!! Which is why one encounters so many local recommendations NOT to plant zoysia (or pretty much any other warm season grasses here). btw, few plug mail order sources will ship to WA or OR, both because of climate concerns/lack of suitability and because importation of most turf grasses into these states is restricted for agricultural reasons.

So not only does it not do well here, it is going to be darned hard to lay your hands on any plugs or seeds.

I've learned sometimes you have to let people do what they're going to do when they're set on it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Edit: especially women :-)

Zoysia is not going to overrun your well established dandelions. If you were to plant zoysia, you would first need to kill the existing vegetation to do a proper planting. If you're not willing to do that, there's no point in planting anything. The dandelions you already have are going to stay there if you don't do anything to get rid of them.

Becky, are the things I've read about zoysia (in the South) overrunning other weeds just blown out of proportion? That's just out of curiosity, if it's only going to survive here (which sounds the most likely, if it even survives at all) then no, I wouldn't expect it to be real competition for the dandelions. But where it does thrive, is it true about it quickly outcompeting other weeds?

gardengal and j4c11, I understand some people like to go by the book and some people like to experiment. It's gardening, so either approach is fine with me. I'm not "set" on sinking a lot of energy and resources into something if it's likely to fail. It's not all or nothing right? I think a small-scale experiment is a swell idea if nobody has answers to my particular questions for me. I don't know but maybe I can get a supplier or somebody to send me a little 1 oz package of seeds to start indoors and move out later in the spring.

I mean, it's not like what you guys are saying is lost on me. My reading comprehension is fine. But this doesn't make me any less curious about whether or not it can grow here, outdoors, with little intervention beyond initial setup. I suppose my reasons for asking have changed, but the questions remain (because of scientific curiosity... not because I'm a woman. For crying out loud, man...)

I'll mess around with it, and sure, I'll let you know how it goes. Could have surprising results, and that's always fun. If nothing else, it'll add to the body of available info. :) Thanks again.

Zone 5b-5c Pennsylvania

I have been establishing Meyer's zoysia (Z-52) for the last two seasons. Yes it takes out dandelions, it also shreds through moss like nothing else. About the only thing I've seen mixed with the zoysia is clover in small amounts.

The best you can do is to purchase some to try and see how it does for you. If it doesn't do well, kill it and try something else.

What I can tell you about here is the summers are humid, and may be very impactful on how the zoysia is spreading very rapidly. However we've had very little rain to this point, yet it's still poking out new sprigs of grass and remains dark green. Winter's can be brutally cold at times, mild and wet at others, as I am in the Appalachian mountains. The top soil here is sandy, because I'm along a river. Which is also a factor in zoysia spreading easily.

Nice big patch of zoysia with a few bits of clover.

It spread very far under the moss to come up where it has here. Seems to spread under moss better than anywhere.

Zoysia is completely appropriate in PA and surrounding states and is grown widely in all of them. Those who say it isn't simply are...well, uneducated in that respect and well, wrong. To put it as simply as possible.

Some cultivars have been used here for decades.

Warranted, it looks like straw from first frost to May, but it also means it requires no care from October to late spring. Some people like that. And it does beautifully in summer on very little water, as you're finding out.

It won't do well in areas that aren't 100% sun, but again...that has nothing to do with gardening zone. And down here in Zone 6b/7a, it does even better in our longer growing season.