Grass types

What kind of grass is in your yard anyways?

Typical summer grass in Arizona: Bermuda Grass.

Find a variety that has better drought tolerance and has a deepr green color. Bermudagrass is the most widely used warm season grass and will be the most beneficial in the hot climate. It may struggle a little bit in the peak of the hot summer but will most definitely make it through.

ID tools: Has rhizomes and stolons, has a folded veneration, hairy ligule, coarse to very fine leaf texture, has a distinctive seedhead, rooting occurs at nodes of stolons.

Typical winter grass in Arizona: Perennial Rye Grass or Rough Bluegrass

Perennial Rye grass is known for its rapid establishment which will decrease the time of an ugly green lawn. The downside of Perennial Rye: it is a bunch type grass which means it will not spread evenly over the whole lawn. If a spot is bear, overseed that spot and that will be how the problem is fixed. Once filled in you will not notice its bunch type qualities but rather how quickly it greened up and fills its small area. Rough Bluegrass also grows a high quality turf for the cool season but does not establish as quickly as the Rye grass, though it is more wear tolerant throughout the winter season.

ID tools: Perennial Rye- folded veneration, pointed leaf tip, shiny backside of leaves, prominent veins, bunch-type growth, membranous ligule, short auricle, braod collar, and appear to have a boat-shaped leaf tip. Easily confused with Kentucky bluegrass which has a boat shaped tip as well but Perennial leaf tip opens to a point. Rough Bluegrass- boat-shpaed leaf tip, folded veneration, long membranous ligule, splits sheath, silvery-onionskin-like appearance on sheath.

Structure- main grass morphology includes the blade, the sheath, crown, node, bud, roots, rhizomes (below ground stems), stolons (above ground stems). All play an important part in the regrowth of the blade after it has been mowed/determines how the plant continues to grow and get nutrients.