Missouri is really a perfect place for planting cool season grasses, in particular tall fescue or fine fescue. Fescue grasses are cool season grasses which are well adjusted with the warmer transitional zones of Missouri along with the cooler northern parts of the state.
Fescues are easily established from seed and have a tall bunching grass species known as tall fescue as well as a finer, lower growing species known as fine fescue. Tall fescues are rougher and produce a very good looking lawn with low routine maintenance. With a tad bit more work, fine fescue varieties like creeping red, hard fescue, chewings fescue, and sheep fescue will give a dwarf-like, very attractive grass surface for your lawn. Both tall and fine fescue are drought tolerant which enables them to make great lawns within the drier parts of Missouri.
Fescue grasses aren’t just drought tolerant, but are shade tolerant as well and will grow nicely in the lower regions of the state where summers can be a little too warm for other cool season grasses. Fescue grasses make good lawns in Missouri for the reason that all varieties share three important attributes. All fescues are shade tolerant, drought tolerant, and stay green throughout the year. Fine fescue varieties tend to be cold and shade tolerant which enable it to grow better towards northern areas of the state and the tall fescue varieties could be more suitable within the southern areas but both can be used throughout the state of Missouri.
Fescue grasses will continue to be green throughout the year while in the cooler climates but goes dormant in areas where the summers are way too hot or where winters are far too cold. If such conditions are present, fescues may change to a pale green color. Fescue grasses may be seeded by themselves however are often available in grass blends with Kentucky bluegrass and/or rye grass varieties. Some fescue varieties could also be used in over-seeding warm season grass lawns.
The best time for planting grass seed in Missouri is between Aug. 25 and Oct. 10. Keep under consideration that lawns seeded within a week of Labor Day are more inclined to fill out completely for winter and produce a thicker, denser turf look and feel for the following spring in comparison with lawns seeded in October. You would like to seed in the late summer simply because the warmer temperatures accompanied with ample water will encourage good grass seed germination.