St. Augustine
St. Augustine is the most popular choice for one major reason: shade tolerance. If you have or will have shade, this is the best option for your home. While shade tolerant, St. Augustine still prefers full sun and needs at least four hours of unfiltered sunshine per day to come back year after year. When healthy, St. Augustine is also a weed-resistant grass and generally does not require the annual use of preemergent weed treatments. The two most readily available varieties are as follows:
- Palmetto – Its deeper root system makes this variety slightly more shade and drought resistant as well as cold tolerant than Raleigh.
- Raleigh – The most popular St. Augustine found in this area. Proven to be winter hardy and more shade tolerant and disease resistant than common St. Augustine.
