What’s the Best Zoysia Grass Type for You

You’ll have the best looking lawn in your neighborhood with our Zoysia grass. All of our quality grass is delivered from our farm direct to your home or project. Here’s Houston Grass Owner Michael Romine talking about the varieties of the best Zoysia grass for Houston.

Cavalier, Palisades and Emerald Zoysia are slow growing, dense turf grasses that look great. Cavalier Zoysia and Emerald Zoysia tolerate more shade than Palisades Zoysia, Raleigh St. Augustine grass and any Bermuda grasses.  The shade tolerant St. Augustine grass is Palmetto.  Many of our clients who move to the Houston area from the North like Zoysia grass because its lush, fine-bladed appearance reminds them of Kentucky Bluegrass and fescue from cooler climates.

Because they grow more slowly, you may have to mow these grasses less than Bermuda or St. Augustine grasses.  Because they provide a dense turf, they also tolerate traffic well; however, they fill bare spots more slowly than faster-growing varieties.

If you choose our Palisades Zoysia, Cavalier Zoysia or Emerald Zoysia for your home lawn project, you’ll have the best looking lawn in your neighborhood.  It’s more expensive than our other turf grass sod varieties, but your new sod will enhance the value of your home for many years to come!

Summary of the Best Zoysia Grass Video

What is the best type of Zoysia grass for the Houston area? I would first have to ask some questions about where the grass is going to be placed.

Shade Is a Primary Factor

My first question is always going to be about shade. How much shade do you have in the area?

If the answer is six or seven hours plus of direct sunlight, then the answer is you can pick from any of the three. We carry Palisades Zoysia, which is the little bit coarser bladed Zoysia, and we carry Emerald and Cavalier. Those are the two finer bladed Zoysias that we carry.

So you’ve got to decide first how much sunlight you get. How you do that. Most people don’t know exactly how much sunlight they get. They might tell me they know they have some shade in the area, but they can’t tell me whether their grass get sun for four or five hours or six to seven hours.

Go outside on a sunny day and take a picture every hour or two hours and then scroll back through those pictures at the end of the day. Those pictures will tell you how much sun that you get in an area.

Michael Romine

You will be disappointed in any grass that you install if you buy a variety that needs more sunlight than you get. It just going to dwindle and eventually fade away over time. So you definitely want to know how much sunlight you get and keep that in mind.

Palisades Is My Choice for at least Six to Seven Hours of Direct Sunlight

So if you say you do get the six or seven hours of direct sunlight in an area, I am always going to point people to the Palisades Zoysia. I think all three of the Zoysias are very aesthetically pleasing. They feel different.

I think the Palisade Zoysia has the best feel to it. It feels very plush and carpet-like, but the downfall to that Palisades Zoysia is that it does need that six or seven hours of direct sunlight. The two fine-bladed Zoysias, the Emerald and the Cavalier can survive on more like four or five hours of direct sunlight. So they definitely have their place.

All of the Zoysia varieties look different from the St. Augustine grass that’s in ninety percent of the lawns around Houston. If you don’t want the regular old St. Augustine in an area, all of the Zoysias certainly check that box. They’re very, very pretty no one’s going to mistake them for any of the other grass varieties.

I just am partial to the Palisades because of its ease of care. Anybody who has ever taken care of St. Augustine knows how to care for Palisades Zoysia. The mowing requirements, the fertilization requirements, the water requirement are all fairly similar. The fine bladed Zoysias have a few more intricacies to them and that should certainly be considered when you’re picking between the three of them.

But again, shade may dictate that you have to do the fine bladed Zoysias. So if you lean towards that four or five hours into the spectrum, you’re going to have to go with the finer bladed Zoysias. If you get more like that, six or seven hours then I would encourage you to look hard at the Palisades.

For more information from Texas A&M to help you compare the characteristics of different turf grass varieties, please visit this link.

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