Weather-wise, Adelaide is a town of contrasts. The Mediterranean climate gives rise to chilly, single-figure overnight lows in winter, before turning on the burners over summer, with the dry, penetrating sun so often raising the mercury above the 40C mark.
Grasses that are able to cope with these extremes can be hard to come by. Adelaideans need something that won’t brown off with the occasional frost, but that will also be able to cope with the scorching, bone-dry temperatures of January through March.
Here are just six grass varieties that should be up to this challenging task.
McKays Bermuda Couch Pure
A mainstay of Australian backyards for decades, Couch is so hardy that it can be sown almost Australia-wide. Despite being a warm-season grass, Couch has a reasonable frost tolerance, helping it to get through the icier of Adelaide’s winter nights. That said, it’s important to plant your Couch in warmer soil – it germinates best when daytime temperatures are above 25C.
Bentgrass (Penncross)
A grass purpose-built for Australia’s temperate areas, Bentgrass is a terrific match for Adelaide’s climate. With great frost tolerance, and excellent drought tolerance, Bentgrass should cope with the local weather extremes admirably. It also germinates extremely quickly and in a broad range of temperatures, perfect for home owners who may not have the flexibility to plant whenever they please. Traffic and shade tolerances are also excellent.
McKays Buffalo Lawn Seed Blend
While Buffalo is traditionally a warm season grass that is rather averse to cool conditions, McKays Buffalo Lawn Seed Blend sidesteps this fact by adding Perennial Ryegrass to the mix, a cool season variety that protects the Buffalo when the days gets shorter and the mornings get chillier. A hardy blend, it will happily stand up to high rates of wear and tear, and is also an excellent self-repairer. One of the only buffalo varieties available in seed form, with McKays Buffalo Blend you can get the expensive Buffalo look at a fraction of the normal price.
McKays Elite Backyard Blend
The mix of Fescues and Ryegrasses found in the Elite Backyard Blend provide a perfectly soft, cushiony and beautiful look to your yard. This mix features grasses that are both summer and winter active, meaning you’ll have a spectacular looking lawn all year round. It couples excellent frost, shade and traffic tolerance with a good resistance to those drought conditions so often experienced over the Adelaide summer.
McKays Parks Blend
The beauty of Kentucky Bluegrass is hard to match; its greeny-bluish hue can make your lawn a real statement piece, and the envy of your neighbours. And while it’s a cool season grass that could struggle to make it through the Adelaide summer, McKays Parks Blend gives Adelaide home owners the opportunity to grow this beautiful variety. Parks Blend sees Kentucky Bluegrass paired Turf Type Tall Fescue, another beautiful grass, that will have any Adelaide front yard looking its very best.
McKays Kikuyu Grass Seed Blend
Another warm season grass that has been blended specifically for temperate Australian conditions, McKays Kikuyu Grass Seed Blend brings the Australian classic of Kikuyu to the Southern coast. A mix of 20 percent Kikuyu, 70 percent Annual Ryegrass and 10 percent slow release fertiliser will allow this blend to germinate in a wide variety of conditions, and eventually the above-ground runners of the Kikuyu will overtake the greater seed percentage of the Annual Ryegrass. Mckays Kikuyu is renowned as one of the most frost-resistant on the market, and will not go yellow after the first frost of the winter hits.
As you can see, despite the challenges thrown up by the Adelaide climate, locals can rest assured that McKays have plenty of seed options that are up to the task.
If you’ve got any questions at all regarding the best grass seed to sow on your Adelaide property, don’t hesitate to give the friendly team at McKays a call!