If someone asks what kind of grass you have, "green" isn't the answer they're looking for.
In Idaho Falls, identifying your turf is the first step toward proper care, as different species have very different needs for water and fertilizer.
Because of our cold winters, your lawn is almost certainly a "cool-season" variety. Narrowing it down further requires getting up close to examine the blades' shape and the veins running through them.
Kentucky Bluegrass is the local favorite, easily identified by its unique "boat-shaped" tip and a single crease-like rib down the center. If your lawn germinated quickly or has several parallel veins instead of one rib, you likely have Perennial Ryegrass mixed in.
Most high-quality Idaho lawns are actually a blend of these two types to ensure maximum disease resistance and durability.
Keep reading to learn how to spot the subtle differences in your blades and why a professional blend is the best choice for the Idaho Falls climate.
Grass identification can be tricky. Sometimes, it comes down to a very small detail that differentiates one type from another.
But since we live here in cold, snowy Idaho, there’s an easy first step to narrow it down.
There are warm-season grasses and cool-season grasses.
Warm-season grasses endure the hot weather of southern climates. Cool-season grasses grow quickly in the cool weather of fall and spring before going dormant in the summer heat.
Idaho's cooler climate means that your grass is cool-season. So that narrows it down.
This type of grass is winter hardy but still holds up well in the summer heat.
How to identify your grass type? There’s a good chance you have Kentucky bluegrass, an Idaho favorite.
Kentucky bluegrass is durable with a beautiful, rich green color. It’s slow to germinate but has good drought tolerance, and once established, it can easily repair itself from damage.
How do you know if this is your grass?
Kentucky bluegrass can be identified most easily by looking for the "boat" shape. It has a pointy tip, and the blade will be folded kind of like a boat.
It will also have a rib running down the middle of the blade. It almost looks like a crease. It can also produce a purplish-blue seed head.
Popular types of grass in Idaho include perennial ryegrass, another cool-season grass. It’s known for its quick germination and lush, long-lasting color. Because it germinates quickly, it’s perfect for new lawns.
Perennial ryegrass can look similar to Kentucky bluegrass. The difference? It has several veins running down the middle of the blade instead of that crease-like rib.
Another cool thing about ryegrass — it blends well with other grasses and adds disease and insect resistance to bluegrass mixes.
So, you might have a blend of Kentucky bluegrass and perennial rye. (We told you this can be tricky.)
Hmmm. Pull a few blades of grass and see what the differences are. Look for the characteristics listed above and see if you can find anything different.
If you see grass blades that are thin and don’t have the rich green color of the surrounding grass, you might have some fescue mixed in. This is most likely if your lawn is in the shade. Fescue does better in shade than Kentucky bluegrass.
When you want the best grass for Idaho, go for a mix of 80 percent Kentucky bluegrass and 20 percent perennial ryegrass.
There’s a lot of beauty in blends. Unlike a single-variety grass seed, blends give you the benefits of more than one variety or species.
Blends are also more likely to withstand diseases than single-species lawns, because of their genetic diversity.
Using a blend reduces the risk of a single grass type being wiped out by insects or diseases.
Different grass types in Idaho also have different traits. One type may do better in drought conditions and the other may be more disease resistant.
Questions about your grass? We’d love to help.
Knowing what type of grass you have is just the beginning. No matter what type you have, give it everything it needs to grow healthy and strong.
Choose an Idaho Falls professional lawn care service that bundles your yard’s most-needed treatments into one convenient, no-fuss plan.
Got a few minutes? That’s all you need to get started. Just fill out the form on this page, call us at (208) 656-9131 or read more about our services. Then you can kick back and relax in your healthy, thriving yard.