Clean up for a Cause

LAWN CARE LOVE

HERE’S HOW TO KEEP YOUR GRASS HEALTHY

BY DEAN ROWLAND

An oasis of greenery greets homeowners and guests from Bluffton to the island.

The lushness of Bermuda grass in the sun, St. Augustine turf in the shade and Empire everywhere are plentiful in the Lowcountry.

These three warm-weather grasses and centipede grass are prevalent in our neighborhoods and proudly sway in the salt-air breeze.

The short gray-green Bermuda blades have a deep root system and are heat- and drought-tolerant.

This grass requires good drainage and will stay green throughout the winter if it’s not bitten by frost.

St. Augustine’s blue-gray grass is salt tolerant but needs to be well-drained. It thrives in high temperatures, is unaffected in cool, coastal climates and tolerates moderate shade.

Blue-green Empire grass is low maintenance, drought-, disease-, shade- and wear-tolerant.

“People maintain their lawns very well around here,” said U.S. Lawns of Hilton Head owner Martin Schuppert. “It’s a difficult area to grow grass, because we’re too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter for a lot of varieties. There’s only a certain number of grasses that do well here.”

“Identify the grass you have,” said Brian Hodges, landscape maintenance supervisor for The Green Thumb. “Around here, we have all-season, yearround grasses. They all turn brown in the winter.”

Green thumbs should follow these guidelines to keep their lawns healthy: