Tall fescue is the safer pick for most yards: it takes shade, needs less water, and handles summer heat better. Kentucky bluegrass is the pick for a full-sun yard where you want a lawn that heals its own bare spots and looks its best in cool weather. USA Sod sells both in the Mid-Atlantic, the Front Range and the inland Northwest, and tall fescue in several more markets beyond that. When in doubt, fescue. When it is all sun and you will water it, bluegrass.
If you are buying sod in Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Denver, Seattle, Spokane, Richmond, Norfolk or Raleigh, these are the two grasses on the table. They look similar on a pallet. They behave differently once they are your lawn.
The short answer
Tall fescue for shade, lower water, and summer heat. Kentucky bluegrass for full sun, self-repair, and the finest cool-weather lawn. Both are cool-season grasses that grow in spring and fall, stay green through winter, and slow down in summer heat. Both are sold by the pallet, cut fresh against your order, delivered for a flat $200, and both need the same first two weeks of water. From here on, the differences.
Sun and shade
Tall fescue takes partial shade and holds on under trees. It is the most shade-tolerant grass in the cool-season group.
Kentucky bluegrass wants full sun. It thins under trees and along the north side of a house, and once it thins it looks patchy in a way fescue does not.
If any part of the yard is shaded for most of the day, that alone usually decides it. Best grass for shade goes deeper.
Water
Tall fescue roots deep, often well past a foot in good soil, and pulls water from further down. It needs about 1 inch a week and can ride out a dry spell by going dull for a while.
Kentucky bluegrass roots shallower and asks for more. In a hot, dry stretch it goes fully dormant and brown, and it stays that way until the rain comes back. It recovers, but you will have a brown lawn in August unless you water it.
In Denver, Albuquerque and anywhere with watering restrictions, this is the difference that matters most.
Wear and self-repair
This is where bluegrass wins.
Kentucky bluegrass spreads by rhizomes, underground stems that send up new plants. A bare spot from a dog, a kids' goal, or a dropped pool fills back in from the edges on its own. Heavy-use yards that get real recovery time stay whole.
Tall fescue is a bunch grass. It grows in clumps and does not spread. It stands up well to foot traffic, but when a spot dies, it stays dead until you overseed it. Most fescue owners do a light overseed every fall as routine.
If you want a lawn that heals itself, that is bluegrass. If you can live with a fall overseed, fescue is fine.
Color through the year
Winter. Both stay green through mild winters. In hard cold both can bronze, and both come back in spring. Bluegrass has the better cold tolerance of the two, which is part of why it is the standard in the coldest markets we serve.
Summer. Fescue stays greener. Bluegrass browns out in heat and drought unless it is watered.
Texture. Bluegrass is finer, softer and darker, and a well-kept bluegrass lawn in May is the lawn people picture when they say "lawn." Fescue is a little coarser, though the turf types the farms grow now are much finer than the old pasture fescue.
How fast each one roots
Tall fescue roots quickly from sod, usually passing the tug test in about two weeks in good conditions.
Kentucky bluegrass is slower to establish. Give it a few extra days before the tug test, and keep the two-week watering schedule going a little longer if the corners still lift. How often to water new sod has the schedule for both.
Early fall is the best window for either one. Spring is second. Lay it in summer only if you can water it every day.
Which one we sell where
As of this writing, USA Sod delivers:
- Both in Albuquerque, Baltimore, Denver, Newark, Norfolk, Philadelphia, Raleigh, Richmond, Roanoke, Spokane and Washington, DC.
- Kentucky bluegrass only in Seattle.
- Tall fescue only in Atlanta, Charlotte, Fresno, Las Vegas, Nashville and Northwest Arkansas.
Pallet size varies by market. Baltimore runs 600 square feet per pallet, Denver 560, Seattle 480, and most others 450 or 500, so compare per-pallet prices carefully. How many square feet does a pallet of sod cover? explains.
Availability changes as we add farms, so check your ZIP code or look at our delivery areas rather than planning around this list. The full fescue write-up is in the tall fescue sod guide.
The bottom line
Pick tall fescue if the yard has any shade, if you want to water less, or if summers where you live get hot. Pick Kentucky bluegrass if the yard is full sun, you will water it through summer, and you want a lawn that fills its own bare spots. Both are good grass. One of them is right for your yard.
Check your ZIP code to see which of the two we deliver in your area and what a pallet costs, or call 1-866-886-2763 and describe your yard. The team can tell you which one the farm near you cuts.
