Which turfgrasses like shade?
The short answer is none. All grasses are best adapted to high light levels – that means sunshine. Although there are some grasses which can tolerate shade better than others, the key word here is tolerate. All things being equal, grasses will do better in full sun than in shade. The best shade-tolerant warm-season grass is St. Augustinegrass. But you will not see sod farmers planting trees or putting up shade tents on their fields of St. Augustinegrass; even it grows fastest in full sun. Centipedegrass and zoysiagrass have less shade tolerance and bermudagrass still less. Bermudagrass needs full sun for best quality; if there is any doubt about shade, use zoysia, centipede or St. Augustinegrass instead. Of course, there are differences in the shade tolerance of different varieties of each species, but there hasn’t yet been a bermudagrass variety as shade tolerant as any St. Augustinegrass, and I doubt there ever will be. Cool-season grasses are generally more shade tolerant that warm-
