John Deere Select Fescue
John Deere Select Fescue is a turf-type tall, fine fescue grass grown from seed. This is quality fescue that grows well in all areas of fescue adaptation. Palmer’s Turf Nursery hand-picks fescue varieties each year to provide you with sod that has the best heat, drought, and disease resistances available.

In addition to the benefits all tall, fine fescue grass varieties have, John Deere Select Fescue has superior Rhizoctonia brown patch resistance, exceptional salt tolerance, and a much stronger shade tolerance. John Deere Select Fescue is by far the most popular turf grass choice in the Tennessee Valley.

Uses for John Deere Select Fescue:

• Residential or commercial turf
  
• Parks and cemeteries
  
• Recreational and sports turf
  
• Sod production
  
• Golf course roughs or bunkers
  
• Roadsides and airport runways
  
• Reclamation projects
  
• Low maintenance uses
  
• Saline soils and water areas

Thermal Bluegrass
Thermal Blue, formerly HB-129 Hybrid Bluegrass is an excellent turf requiring minimal water and nitrogen inputs and maintains quality under lower maintenance regimes. It is adapted to regions where Kentucky Bluegrass and Tall Fescue are used. Its spreading nature allows turf stands to repair from drought and mechanical injury. Unlike other Kentucky Bluegrasses, Thermal Blue shows very rapid germination and establishment.

Thermal Blue is similar to other popular varieties of bluegrass including Coventry, Jefferson, Limousine, and Baronie. It has a medium genetic color and is slightly darker than Eagleton. It has a somewhat broad leaf texture similar to Abbey, Moonlight, Blacksburg II, and Raven.

Thermal Blue offers:

• Highly rated density
  
• Statistically rated spring green
  
• Top performing percentage living ground cover during summer months
  
• Very high drought tolerance

Thermal Blue has excellent resistant ratings regarding:

• Summer patch disease
  
• Brown patch
  
• Stem rust
  
• Crown rust
  
• Powdery mildew
  
• Snow mold

Meyer Zoysia
Also called Z-52, this grass variety is an improved cultivar of Zoysia japonica. It has a medium, dark-green color with intermediate leaf texture and shoot density. Meyer Zoysia is slightly less shade tolerant than Emerald Zoysia. It also has the fastest spring green-up. The most cold tolerant zoysia grass, it is grown as far north as Pennsylvania and Missouri. This is the zoysia grass often advertised as the “super” grass in newspapers and magazines.

Meyer can be established using plugs, sprigs, or sod and is excellent for lawns.

Advantages of Z-52 Zoysia:

• Dense turf prevents development of weeds.
  
• Very green turf in the summer.
  
• Can tolerate some shade.
  
• Pest and disease resistant.
  
• Excellent hot and cold tolerances.
  
• Stands up to foot traffic.
  
• Tolerates close mowing.

Tifway (Tifton 419)
Tifway, or Tifton 419, was a product of cooperative selection and testing by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Stations, and the U.S. and Southern Golf Associations. This hybrid of the Cynodon transvaalensis and C. dactylon Bermuda grasses is highly disease resistant with a very dark green color. Consequently, it maintains a desirable green color longer, with less nitrogen requirements than most other selections.

Although Tifway’s fine leaves, which are stiffer than Tifgreen, make it inferior to Tifgreen for putting greens, it is a superior selection for tees and fairways. This grass’s growth begins earlier in the spring than most Bermuda grass varieties. It is also more frost resistant than other Bermuda grasses. As a result, it will remain greener deeper into the fall months.

Tifway is more resistant to sod web worm and mole cricket attacks. Because of its extreme denseness, it is more weed resistant than most Bermuda grasses. Tifway never produces seed, so it must be propagated by sprigs or sod. When managed correctly, Tifway 419 provides a thick, high-quality turf.

Emerald Zoysia
Emerald zoysia was introduced in 1955 by the United States Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Agricultural Experiment Stations. It is a hybrid between zoysia japonica and zoysia tenuifolia. This variety combines the fine texture of zoysia tenuifolia with the cold tolerance and faster rate of spread of zoysia japonica, and is similar in appearance and habit to zoysia matrella.

Emerald zoysia makes a quality lawn when regular maintenance and care is provided. It is less hardy than Meyer zoysia, but more shade tolerant, and has a high shoot density and low growth habit. With its dark green color and fine leaf texture, Emerald zoysia is often referred to as the Cadillac of grasses.

When proper care and maintenance measures are taken, Emerald zoysia produces a beautiful, thick, lush lawn.