Written and checked by the USA Sod team · Published November 5, 2026
Sunny yard: pick Kentucky bluegrass. Shady yard: pick tall fescue. Turf-type tall fescue, Kentucky bluegrass and buffalograss together cover 99% of Colorado home lawns. In Denver, USA Sod commonly offers Kentucky Bluegrass, Tall Fescue and Bermuda Tahoma 31: check your ZIP code for today's list.
Four questions before you pick
Answer these before you lay a new lawn:
- How much play will it get, and how often?
- Does the area get sun or shade?
- Is your soil sandy or clay?
- How much are you willing to pay in water to keep it at the look you want?
Kentucky bluegrass often gets picked by default, without much thought about other grasses. Use the answers to choose on purpose.
Kentucky bluegrass: the sunny yard pick
Kentucky bluegrass grows dense, with a rich bluish-green color, and it stands up well to wear. It handles both heat and cold very well, and it is easy to find as sod. In a drought it can go dormant and live through long stretches without water.
The trade-offs: its shade tolerance runs from poor to fair, it needs more nitrogen than other grasses, and it may need frequent watering to keep its quality. When water runs short in the hottest, driest part of summer, it goes dormant. Give it the sunny parts of the yard.
Tall fescue: the shady yard pick
Turf-type tall fescue does well in shade. It is deep-rooted and drought resistant, it tolerates wear, and it handles heat and cold very well.
Tall fescue sod is harder to find than bluegrass sod, though USA Sod commonly offers both in Denver. And heavy use by kids or pets can leave worn spots that may need overseeding.
Swapping bluegrass for fescue will not save water
No lawn grass gives top quality with little upkeep. Colorado State University Extension puts turf-quality tall fescue at only about 10% less water than Kentucky bluegrass, so swapping bluegrass for fescue will not, on its own, save water.
Tall fescue also cannot slow its growth as the soil dries, and it cannot go dormant, so it needs watering through dry spells in summer. A good-looking bluegrass lawn needs about 34 inches of rain plus watering a year; tall fescue needs about 31.
So choose between Kentucky bluegrass and tall fescue by sun and shade, not to cut your water bill.
Bermuda in Colorado
Naturalized Bermuda grows across Colorado, and some homeowners have used it for lawns, often with great success. It spreads hard by stolons and rhizomes, though, and once it takes hold in a lawn it is very hard to get rid of. If you choose Bermuda, choose it on purpose.
Ordering sod in Denver
USA Sod commonly offers Kentucky Bluegrass, Tall Fescue and Bermuda Tahoma 31 in the Denver market. Availability changes week to week, so enter your ZIP code for today's list, or see the Denver page.
Denver pallets cover 560 square feet in USA Sod quotes, and sod is sold in full pallets because it is cut to order. Delivery is a flat $200 on any sod order. Installation is not offered in Denver; see do you install sod or just deliver it.
Matched your grass to your sun and shade? Order your Denver sod or call 1-866-886-2763.
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