The short version
If your yard gets sun most of the day, get Bermuda. If it's under trees with part shade, get St. Augustine (Raleigh or Palmetto) or a shade-tolerant Zoysia (Zorro or Palisades). No grass grows in deep shade, so if the ground under your tree only sees an hour of sun, sod isn't the answer there. A lot of yards are both, and that's fine. You just sod two grasses.
Start by counting your sun hours
Before you pick a grass, go look at your yard a few times on a clear day: morning, noon, afternoon. Count roughly how many hours of direct sun each part gets. Here's the rough guide we give people, based on widely accepted variety traits:
- Bermuda wants full sun, about 6 hours or more of direct sun. Less than that and it thins out.
- St. Augustine and the shade-tolerant Zoysias can handle part shade, roughly 4 to 6 hours.
- Under about 4 hours, every grass struggles. Think mulch or a bed there instead.
Those are starting points, not guarantees. Dense live oak shade is different from a thin tree that lets light through.
How our varieties compare
Here's every sod we carry, rated from the farm descriptions and the traits these grasses are known for. We've kept it conservative.
| Grass | Sun | Shade | Traffic | Water needs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tifway 419 Bermuda | Full sun | Poor | High | Low |
| TifTuf Bermuda | Full sun | Poor | High | Lowest of the Bermudas |
| Celebration Bermuda | Full sun | Poor | High | Low, highly drought tolerant |
| Latitude 36 Bermuda | Full sun | Poor | High, recovers fast | Low |
| TifSport Bermuda | Full sun | Poor | High, recovers fast | Low |
| CT-2 Bermuda | Full sun | Poor | High, fills in fast | Low |
| Raleigh St. Augustine | Sun to part shade | Good | Low | Higher |
| Palmetto St. Augustine | Sun to part shade | Better than Raleigh | Low | Higher |
| Floratam St. Augustine | Full sun | Low | Low | Higher |
| Palisades Zoysia | Sun to part shade | Good | Medium | Low to moderate, drought tolerant |
| Zorro Zoysia | Sun to part shade | Strong | Medium, slow to recover | Moderate |
| Emerald Zoysia | Sun to part shade | Moderate | Medium, slow to recover | Moderate |
A few notes on what that table doesn't tell you.
Bermuda is the default North Texas lawn for a reason. It takes heat, it takes drought, and it heals itself because it spreads both above and below ground. Tifway 419 is the standard. TifTuf is our pick if you're worried about watering. CT-2 spreads the most aggressively of the hybrids, which is great for filling in but means you'll want good edging along your beds.
St. Augustine is the wide-bladed grass you see under oaks all over south DFW. Raleigh is the cold-hardiest and the North Texas standard. Palmetto is a step up in shade and cold tolerance. Floratam is a sun grass with low shade tolerance, and it's known to be less cold hardy than Raleigh, so we wouldn't put it under a tree. St. Augustine doesn't bounce back well from heavy foot traffic, and it wants more water than Bermuda.
Zoysia is the slow, dense, premium option. It costs more, starting at $456 a pallet as of October 2026 (Raleigh St. Augustine is $325, for comparison). Zorro has strong shade tolerance and a fine blade. Palisades is wide-bladed and handles both drought and some shade. Emerald is the fine, carpet-like look for high-end yards. Because Zoysia grows slowly, it's also slow to repair once it's damaged.
What we'd pick for your situation
- Full sun, typical family yard: Tifway 419. It's proven and it's tough.
- Part shade under trees: Palmetto or Raleigh St. Augustine, or Zorro Zoysia if you want a finer blade.
- Heavy traffic, dogs, kids playing ball: a Bermuda. TifTuf for wear plus drought, or Latitude 36 and TifSport for fast recovery. That's assuming the yard gets sun. Dogs in a shady yard are hard on any grass.
- Low water: TifTuf or Celebration in sun. Palisades Zoysia if you have some shade.
Got sun and shade in the same yard?
Most yards with a mature tree are like this. Here's what we tell people: sod Bermuda where the sun is and St. Augustine or Zoysia under the tree. Don't try to make one grass work everywhere. Bermuda in shade goes thin and patchy, and St. Augustine in a high-traffic sunny side yard wears out.
Measure each area separately and round each one up to whole pallets. Run a bed edge or steel edging along the line between them so the Bermuda doesn't creep into the shade grass. Bermuda will try.
What to do next
Measure your lawn with our satellite measuring tool, then figure pallets with the sod calculator. Every pallet covers 450 square feet, and our sod pallet pricing guide has the full price table. Sod is cut fresh at partner farms, so give us 24 to 48 hours notice. Browse every grass on the sod page, or call 817-765-1655 and we'll help you choose.