I am located in zone 10a in San Diego, with low 80's summer temperatures, low 60's spring temperatures, will get maybe a few weeks of high 80's in the worst heat waves.

And THAT'S why people want to live in SoCal.

Just for grins, you might call the greenskeeper at Torrey Pines Country Club and ask him what grasses they use. It's not going to be St Augustine, because the ball can get buried in it making it hard to hit out of. It's not going to be fescue, because it doesn't recover. I'm betting they use a type of creeping bentgrass, but it might be a sport bermuda or zoysia. If he says bermuda, ask about the variety. But to the point, if they use bermuda, you can use bermuda in your FRONT only. In the back I would go with either Marathon I, II, or III fescue or St Augustine. Fescue should be fine in your area. Are you east or west of I-5? If you are in the El Cajon area, then I'm going to call BS on your temperature estimates. It gets hot out there. East of Grossmont and you're way out of fescue area. Personally, I would put St Augustine in front and back, but that's me. Oh, another choice for the front would be UC Verde buffalo grass. It requires full sun exposure, so it won't work at all in the back.

Another call you might make is to the zoo. They have a lot of grass.

The San Diego Botanic Garden, in Encinitas, has special grass gardens where you can see the various grass types in use.

Whatever you decide, let us know and we can help you get it established with minimal weeds and as little hassle as possible. I lot of people make mistakes up front that cost them either money or enjoyment down the road, so ask a lot of questions. If you are new to lawn care, that makes a difference, too.

Thanks :) I am almost right on I-5 (maybe 2-3 blocks to the right of it) about 1-2 miles south of Del Mar.

Anybody has experience with WEST COAST NATIVE BENTGRASS--AGROSTIS PALLENS?

Cool season lawns will require more water and we seem to be experiencing another drought. http://ipm.ucanr.edu/TOOLS/TURF/TURFSPECIES/index.html

I would not use a shallow rooted grass like bentgrass in an area prone to droughts. Fescue, on the other hand, will grow much deeper roots which can take advantage of deep, infrequent watering. You're in an area where cool season grasses will work, generally, but again, I would not do a bentgrass in California. If you do want bentgrass, it will likely not work in the shady back yard. Your only options there are fescue, St Augustine, and the rare variety of zoysia. There used to be a hybrid zoysia on the market, very shade tolerant, called Shadow Turf, but that's gone now.

Thanks, dchall_san_antonio, what do you think about the following sod?

https://app.sodlawn.com/sods/elite-plus-dwarf-fescue-kentucky-blue/38

Bolero Plus. by Delta Blue Grass. Growing well here in 9b SF BAy area, (which is similar to your 10a). Temps.

-Babka

Sameer, I think that would work. Usually you are limited to whatever you can find locally, but always ask if you can special order what you want.

Thank you dchall_san_antonio and Babka NorCal 9b. I think I will go with that one. Just curious, this has dwarf fescue instead of the more common tall fescue? Is that good or bad?

It i is good. You don't have to mow as often. If you go on vacation, you won't come home to 1 foot tall grass!

-Babka

When I wanted to put in a small lawn (1600 sf) a few years back, I asked the local sod supplier which grass was best for my purposes and they suggested RTF (rhizomatous tall fescue). It's been great. Very rich green, durable, seems to have no problem with heat. I'm 9b, Sonoma County. Here's a description:

Rhizomatous Tall Fescue

Dwarf varieties of grass refer more to the speed of growth than to the ultimate height of the blades.

Thank you all :) I am also starting to consider uc verde buffalo grass for the front lawn (full sun). But for the back (which is not full sun), I will definitely go for some kind of fescue.

Buffalo grass sounds like an excellent choice just from seeing photos and descriptions on...another site. What that stuff will put up with is almost legendary.

It will tolerate down to about six hours of sun per day (but won't compromise under that) so even areas that aren't "full sun" in the sense that they're not all day blazing sun might be able to grow buffalo grass. Just don't push it under the 6 hour mark as there's no such thing as "eh, that'll do."

True regarding historical Sonoma County rain totals. This year and last year less than 40% of normal. Lawn still looking good.

Sameer I have some photos of a different variety of hybrid buffalo grass to show you what you might see. Typically seeded buffalo grass is very thin and weedy. The hybrids are very dense which keeps weeds out. Still...

Okay, so this looks great, right? It is buffalo mowed at 3/4-inch almost like a golf green. It's hard to see from the angle, but it was very dense. But see that brick mailbox at the other side?

The brick mailbox is at the right edge of the picture. You can see that the buffalo grass adjacent to the mailbox has thinned way out. This is the west side of the mailbox, so it gets full sun for half a day, but that's not enough. Also note that the grass does fine just a few inches westward from the mailbox.

Here's another picture of the same variety of buffalo.

Ignore the seed heads, because UC Verde does not get them. Typical seeded varieties of buffalo will send up seed stalks twice as fast as the grass grows making it look weedy even if it has no weeds. This variety was praised for being dense, having slow growing seed stalks, and for the ability to spread by stolons (the runners escaping over the concrete). Except for the seed stalks, UC Verde is much like the variety in this picture. This lawn was mowed normally at 3 inches, but the guy who normally mowed it moved out (frat house).

Thank you dchall_san_antonio. My front lawn does get almost full sun all year around, so we should be good. There is a small downward slope region on the west edge of the lawn and the shadow side of it might struggle a tiny bit, but I guess that's a small price to pay for such a low maintenance option.

My understanding is the buffalo, being a prairie type grass, will survive on less water the next time the drought cuts you off.

Thanks !

Is this a good source to buy the plugs?

https://ucverdebuffalograss.com/

There are many sources online... was wondering if one is better than the rest?

I honestly don't know. Have you called nurseries in your area to see of any of them carry the plugs? Sometimes they will tell you where you can go to see lawns where it has been installed. That's how I got the pictures posted above.

okay, thanks ! I will call around.

I am wondering if you made a decision. We are just starting to think about grass for a portion of our backyard, as our landscapers are just finishing up installing irrigation. We plan to go to a couple of local trusted nurseries this weekend too. We are in Los Angeles, but have very similar average summer month temperature to what you described. Please note I know nothing about plants, grass, etc.

I chose to go with Uc Verde buffalo grass for the full sun front yard.

Did you buy it from the source you listed above?

Can't wait to hear how it goes.

yes, bought it from that source. Planted last Saturday, and will keep you posted .

Start taking pictures of the plugs now and every week to show the progress. But as I say that I recall planting zoysia plugs and not seeing anything...at all...for 2 months. Then all of a sudden I had zoysia popping up 5 feet away. Anyway, take pictures at whatever rate seems meaningful.

here is a pic at 6 days after planting :)

Can you tell if it is spreading yet?

I think I do see stolons :)

Latest picture ... I have had to do an awfull amount of de-weeding every week. In the hindsight I should have followed the instructions more carefully about letting the weeds come up in multiple cycles before planting.

Thank you for the update. It should be fully covered in another month.