Question
Hi Charlotte,

I recently moved into a new home in Roswell, GA. just north of metro Atlanta. I have a wonderful full lawn of Bermuda Grass on each side of my house where it receives full sun. However, in my front yard my driveway is flanked on each side by two large bradford pear trees. These trees provide a good amount of shade and the Bermuda Grass below is patchy, thin, and in general dying a slow death. The previous owners apparently tried to resod these areas to no avail.
I was thinking of putting St. Augustine grass in these areas, but had some concerns.
1) Will it look radically different than the Bermuda Grass or blend well?
2) When should I undertake this replacement?
3) Should I use sod, plugs, or seed?
I'm not totally sold on St. Augustine either, so if you have a better suggestion please share it.

Thanks for any help you might be able to give!

Mike Procopio
Roswell, GA.

Answer
Hi Mike;
St Augustine would be a stark contrast, it will eventually spread into the rest of the lawn though, and after some years, will crowd out the burmuda.
How about a pretty rock, brick or other decorative low wall to separate the shaded area, and put in a shade loving ground cover.
I have asian Jasmine, and I live in North Texas ( Dallas area). Her it is evergreen, so i have nice green cover in the winter in my front raised bed.
It likes shade and will do fine, but with a little bit of sun, it sopreads relly well. If it gets a little out of hand, and it does every year or so, you can just mow it, and that cuts it back. It still looks nice when it is mowed, and puts out new leaves right away. It has very small waxy leaves.
There is English Ivy, if you like broader leaves, Irisnh Moss, which is a paler green, and evergreen.
There are even shade loving ground covers that bloom.
That is the way I would go, it would look nice, deliberate, and be a lot less work.
Go to the National Garneding Association site and look up ground covers.
You get all the information about them, and can see pictures so you can choose what you like. there is a zone map of course, so you can make cerain which ones will do well in your area. the web address is  

There is also a new variety of Burmuda that requires less sun. My daughter oput it in her yard, and it does well under her trees where it gets only 2 or 3 hours of sun per day..
We can't find out the name of it. the rinky dink nursery where she got it called it Golf course Burmuda.

     www.garden.org


Charlotte