Best Warm-Season Grass Options for Kansas Lawns
Hello, again!
One of the reasons I enjoy spending time in the Kansas Flint Hills is the native plants. Plants add so much to our spaces. What would all of our homes, streets, buildings, and parks be like without plants? The Bartlett Arboretum would be just a boring spot on the prairie without plants, trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials, and turf blending to create a beautiful outdoor space.
Kansas is located in what is referred to as the ‘transition zone’, meaning we can enjoy both northern (cool-season) turf and southern (warm-season) turf types. Cool-season types such as fescue and bluegrass stay greener longer into the year. Warm-season types such as bermuda, zoysia, and buffalo grass have a shorter growing season, but require less water and can typically be mowed at a shorter height.
For a good warm-season turf option in our area, I generally suggest our GoldStrike Bermudagrass Blend, a premium-quality, homeowner-grade seed designed for lush, durable, and resilient turf. Engineered for fast establishment, deep green color, and exceptional wear tolerance, this elite blend is perfect for residential and commercial lawns.
Stabilizer Bermudagrass is another good option, consisting of a blend of superior seeded bermudagrasses, Monaco and Rio. It is specially formulated for soil stabilization and quick establishment. This specialized blend has winter hardiness to zone 6 and will green up earlier in the spring than other seeded forage bermudagrasses.
We sell Monaco Bermudagrass seed because of its standout performance in the National Turf Evaluation Program. It has excellent density and wear tolerance, and is bred for a genetically darker green color, quicker spring green-up, high fall color retention, and winter hardiness, helping extend its growing season for transition-zone areas. Monaco is also enhanced with Yellow Jacket Seed Enhancement Technology to help it retain moisture.
Buffalograss, another warm-season turf, is a soft-textured, fine-leafed sod-forming grass that has endured for thousands of years in the harsh climate of the American Great Plains. Buffalograss provides a beautiful turf with a unique combination of low maintenance requirements and tolerance to extreme heat, cold, and drought.
Sundancer Buffalograss is the most advanced turf type of Buffalograss available today. Sundancer was developed through a cooperative effort between the Native Seed Group and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Sundancer offers superior turf quality and performance from seed and is widely adapted to diverse environments, making it a step above the rest.
Now is the perfect time to plant warm-season lawns, as the higher temps help seeds germinate and establish quickly. Killing out existing grasses and weeds with Hi-Yield Super Killz-All and then reseeding may be done in as little as a week, and an application of ferti-lome New Lawn Starter when seeding will help to establish the new turf. Come see us for answers to all of your warm or cool-season lawn and landscape questions.
Also be sure to check out the schedule of events at The Bartlett Arboretum. Their TreeHouse concert series is a great family activity just a short drive south of Wichita.
Your friend in the garden,
Marty Johnson
Owner - Johnson's Garden Centers
