Question
I live in north east Kansas and have a shady area, appros. 4000 sf, that I want to overseed with a grass that will tolerate shady conditions over the summer.  The other, sunny, areas I will overseed with tall turf fescue.

What type of seed do you recommend for shady areas in this region?  

Answer
Hi Bruce;
Even the low shade tollerant grasses need at least 4 to 5 hours of sun per day.
If you can't thin out tree or shrub branches to get enough sun to the area, better to go with some of the shade loving ground covers.
Some are low growing enough if you have a seating area where the shade is.
Go to this site, it is the National Gardening Society's website, and you can get pictures of ground covers there. It will tell you what is shade loving, how tall it grows, what zones it dioes well in, and there is a zione map, if you don't know your zone.

 http://www.garden.org/home

Ferns love shade too, and they make it look so cool, when it is hot, and you look into the shade with those beauties growing there. Some are even evergreen.
Charlotte