I have a lawn that I would like to replace with zoysia, since it seems more weed resistant.
Is it possible to start it in an existing bluegrass lawn, and have it take over, or do I need to tear up all the sod and start over?
I live in the DC area. I know it is probably too late for this year, buy maybe next year.
Thanks for any help.
Yeah, you can buy plugs and install them about six inches apart. In three years the zoysia will have spread and crowded out the bluegrass. Call Zoysia Farms Nurseries in Taneytown. They are the closest suppliers of plugs in your area. Try to get the plugs about April or May of next year.
Zoysia is GREAT stuff if you like a lawn that looks like the one in the next to the last picture on this page:
Of course it only looks like that about 5 months out of the years, but who is counting.
And one wonders how flame wars get started. Now I remember why I haven't read this group in the last three years.
I guess you aren't in favor of a comprehensive discussion of any topic. So if someone asks about a plant, the only replies that are acceptable are ones that support the OP's position or that are limited to positive aspects of a plant. Zoysia is great in some respects, but it looks like the picture that I linked to much of the year in colder zones. If you are good with that, then so be it. You will not be surprised when your lawn looks like a sisal mat much of the year. On the other hand, if you read an ad in the back of a magazine that only touted the good points of this plant, and then spent a lot of time and money installing a lawn only to find that it goes straw-colored between October and April, then you might be a wee bit upset. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.
You'd be surprised how, without any facial expressions or tone of voice to go by, a short, snappy response like your first one can appear very smart-alecky. You may not have meant it to be, but it comes off that way and it's not nearly as informative as your second answer. I also haven't been here for awhile, and that's one reason: these discussions can devolve into sniping pretty quickly. Bunch of guys arguing about who's got the biggest pistils. Anyway, that's a good warning about Zoysia, and there's one mitigating factor: the months that Zoysia's brown are the same months that we aren't outside to enjoy it, anyway.
I go outside everyday and can also see outside from my windows. The lawn is the largest green plant I have in the winter. I also tend to spend a lot of time outside in the spring and fall doing gardening chores, the very time that a zoysia lawn is in transition around here in zone 6. There will be patches of green in the sea of brown. Furthermore, zoysia has its share of diseases and pests. Also, if the lawn is established from plugs, you get a checkerboard effect for a few years until the zoysia fill in. In the mean time, the texture of the old and new turf is different, with very tough, dense patches of zoysia between softer areas of the original lawn. I think it looks really awful, but again that is a personal opinion and I'm sure that there will be people who find it stunning. No doubt that in warmer climates, zoysia is a contender but I think it is a questionable choice where it goes dormant in the colder months.
I mowed a zoysia lawn for years when I lived with my parents and it can be difficult to push a mover over a zoysia lawn. That lawn ended up taking a tremendous amount of pesticides to keep it in reasonable shape. My mother had it removed a few years ago and replaced with a fescue lawn. It has been a much better choice in her zone 6 lawn near Pittsburgh.
Easier than Zoysia to get a complete carpeting groundcover out of is a little forb called Prunella vulgaris, which is already naturalized throughout the world, being more adaptable than zoysia, looking fine in part shade to full sun, varying degrees of moisture, & changing soil conditions over a large area. Zoysia will look different in differing conditions & might not thrive at all along patches that are shaded. Both Zoysia & Prunella require watering just about as regularly as a grass lawn (maybe SLIGHTLY less) so for a lawn that was a bit easier on resources Lawn Chamomile might do the trick.
Here's the Plants for a Future list of plants that can be used as lawns:
-paghat the ratgirl
Strange that you mentioned prunella. I planted prunella grandiflora 'Loveliness' a few years ago with high hopes, but it languished and then died. I think it was in an area that is too dry. It is a trouble area for me at the edge of a woodland with clay soil and on a slope. I haven't had much luck with plants in that location. At best, things just survive. I have planted hydrangea macrophilia, hydrangea p. tardiva, viburnum carlcephalum, viburnum t. Shasta, common daylilies, tradescantia, hostas, spirea, to name a few with no real success. The Shasta viburnum really wilts in the summer and watering is very difficult in the area.
Most hydrangeas like regular watering as do viburnums. viburnums like to be well mulched and require less water with a heavy layer although they still wilt during dry spells. Even the common daylilies (ditch lilies) did poorly this summer during a late May early June dry spell. The only thing that seem to thrive were the common irises that we grow around old homesteads and in the ditches. Even their blossoms faded and died rapidly this spring when we had an early hot spell. The one plant that did well during the hot, dry weather was Mexican Hat Ratibida columnaris, which seemed to enjoy the weather.
John
In general, I would agree with you. But What Vox said was not really offensive in any way. We can say that Vox didn't answer to the OP in a "matter of fact" way. But answering everything always in a "matter of fact" way can make a very boring conversation ... like reading a text book, or reading a computer manual.
In fact, this is good that Vox pointed out the negative espect of the plant. I have seen lawn with Zoysia in my neighborhood, and most people whom I talk with (outside the net) don't like that "look". Unfortunately, when we read the ad of Zoysia (such as the one shown in a home improvement magazine), we will never see this downside being mentioned in the ad. Therefore, someone has to point out the negative to balance thing out.
Zoysia may be good for warmer climate. But I don't think this is a right choice for zone-6 and above (from a homeowner's point of view).
Jay Chan
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