Lawn Requiring Low Sunlight

Q

I'm planting a new lawn soon in an area which doesn't get much sunlight throughout the day, can you tell me which lawn type would be best for a low sunlight area?

A

First we need to say that there really is no such thing as a no-sunlight lawn, so if light levels are too low, then you may not get very far with any lawn type at all.

First in the list for low sunlight lawns would be Durban Grass. Unfortunately Durban Grass aka Sweet Smother Grass may not be to everyone's taste, nor is it available Australia wide. So for most homeowners, the next grass may be the preferred choice.

Buffalo Grass comes in a very close second for shade tolerance which will tolerate shade between 50 - 70%. Just be aware that all Buffalo Grasses are not created equal, and this is true with shade tolerance as well. The most shade tolerant Buffalo grass in Australia has been proven to be Sapphire Soft Buffalo, which is a very high quality fine leaf Buffalo grass. In independent field trials, Sapphire Buffalo easily beat out all other competitors across all studies. Sapphire is Aussie owned and was specially bred from Sir Walter Buffalo Grass to become a superior form of this grass type, which was proven in the shade tolerance category alone. Another better shade tolerant Buffalo is Matilda Soft Buffalo, as well as the old Shademaster Buffalo, however we really cannot recommend Shademaster when there are far better soft Buffaloes available today.

Last in line will be Zoysia grass, which can tolerate shade levels up to 40%, and with it's very low maintenance properties, makes Zoysia a highly valuable grass for the money conscious and time conscious homeowner.

Avoid all Couch and Kikuyu lawns where shade is present, as these grasses do not tolerate shade at all.

The final point to remember when growing lawns in partial shade is to always mow and keep the lawn at higher lawn mowing heights. This allows the lawn to photosynthesise with far greater efficiency under low light levels.