Picking the right grass for your yard
The biggest mistake people make with sod is buying the variety their neighbor has instead of the variety that fits their yard. Shade exposure, foot traffic, water budget, and what you want it to look like in February all matter more than the brand name. Get it right once and the lawn takes care of itself for 20 years. Get it wrong and you're re-sodding in three.
We cut sod fresh weekly from our growers. Order by Wednesday for weekend pickup or delivery. Pallets are 450 sq ft each; we also cut by the square yard for patches and small jobs.
Bermuda — full sun, low water
Bermuda is the default Texas lawn for a reason: heat tolerant, drought tolerant, fast to spread, low maintenance. It needs 6+ hours of direct sun. In shade it thins out and dies. Goes dormant (brown) in winter and greens up in late March.
- Tifway 419 — the workhorse. Most widely-used hybrid Bermuda in the South. Golf-course-spec, used on sports fields. If you're sodding a typical sunny front yard, this is what you want.
- TifTuf — UGA-bred, superior drought and wear tolerance. Stays green longer into a dry summer than Tifway. Worth the upcharge if you're on a water budget.
- Celebration — Australian-bred, deep blue-green color, exceptional drought tolerance. Most premium Bermuda we carry. Pick it for the color if you want a "manicured estate" look.
- Latitude 36 — cold tolerant (goes dormant later, greens up earlier). Best Bermuda for the northern edge of the DFW area.
- TifSport — close-mow tolerant, golf-quality. Pick it if you're going to mow at 3/4" reel.
- CT-2 — most aggressive lateral growth. Self-repairs damaged spots faster than any other Bermuda we carry. Good for high-traffic yards with kids and dogs.
Zoysia — shade tolerance + softness
Zoysia is the answer when Bermuda doesn't work — partial shade (4-6 hours of sun), softer underfoot, denser growth pattern. Slower to establish, slower to spread, but a finished Zoysia lawn is the gold standard of North Texas residential. Needs less mowing than Bermuda. More expensive.
- Palisades Zoysia — the most popular medium-bladed Zoysia. Texas-A&M bred. Works in 4-5 hours of sun.
- Empire Zoysia — finer blade than Palisades, softer feel, similar shade tolerance. Premium pick for a barefoot lawn.
- Emerald Zoysia — finest blade, most dense, premium price. Slower to install, almost manicured-looking.
St. Augustine — shade specialist
St. Augustine is the shade grass in DFW. If you have less than 4 hours of sun a day — under live oaks, on the north side of a 2-story house — St. Augustine is what works. Coarser-bladed and softer than Bermuda, slower-growing, takes more water. Susceptible to chinch bugs and brown patch — needs more babysitting than Bermuda.
- Raleigh — the standard DFW St. Augustine. Cold-hardy enough for our occasional hard freezes.
- Palmetto — improved variety, denser, better cold and shade tolerance than Raleigh.
- CitraBlue — newer Florida-bred variety, denser blue-green, improved disease resistance. Pricier but a stronger pick if you're tired of brown patch.
Quick picker
| Your yard | Get |
|---|---|
| Sunny front yard, normal water | Tifway 419 Bermuda |
| Sunny + water-restricted | TifTuf or Celebration Bermuda |
| Mixed shade & sun (4-6 hrs sun) | Palisades or Empire Zoysia |
| Deep shade (under 4 hrs sun) | Raleigh or Palmetto St. Augustine |
| Kids and dogs, full sun | CT-2 Bermuda (self-repairs fast) |
| Want a "finest lawn on the block" feel | Emerald Zoysia |
When to lay sod in Texas
Late March through October is the install window. The grass needs warm soil to root in — sod laid in February sits dormant and doesn't establish until spring anyway. Mid-summer is fine if you're committed to daily watering for the first three weeks. Avoid laying sod the week before a hard freeze.
How much do I need
Pallets are 450 sq ft. Trim allowance: add 5-10% for cuts around beds, sprinklers, and irregular edges. A 2,500 sq ft front yard is about 6 pallets with trim.
Measure your yard with our property tool to get pallet counts and topsoil amendment quantities automatically — it draws your yard on a satellite map and computes the install list.
Contractor notes
Cut fresh Tuesday or Wednesday, on the yard Thursday or Friday for weekend installs. Bermuda pallets are full-strap; Zoysia and St. Augustine pallets are net-wrapped. Sod delivered to driveway only — we don't hand-stack into the yard. Bring topsoil with the order if you're prepping over compacted clay; the sod won't root well without a top inch of soil amendment.
