If you’re working hard to maintain a healthy, attractive lawn, learning the differences between cool season and warm season grasses is an essential step in ensuring your grass remains in prime condition.

While both turf types require comparable treatments, cool season grasses are equipped with their own unique set of advantages, temperaments and distinguishable characteristics.

We pride ourselves in providing Aussies with professional products for professional results, and offer valuable information for our customers to guarantee they have the right tools to maintain a lawn they are proud of.

Cool Season Species

Though weather incidents like snow and frost don’t often apply to those in the north of Australia, those who live in the colder southern states like Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania likely want to consider popular cool season grass species that thrive in temperatures between 16 and 24 degrees Celsius. Otherwise known as C3 grasses, the most common cool season grass species in Australia include:

• Creeping Bentgrass - Commonly used for lawn bowling greens, golf course greens, tees and fairways; high maintenance.
• Fine Fescue - Good drought resistance and highly shade-tolerant; low maintenance.
• Tall Fescue - Adaptable to a wide range of climates and disease-resistant; low maintenance.
• Kentucky Bluegrass - Limited shade tolerance and excellent in winter conditions; high maintenance.
• Perennial Rye Grass (PRG) - Fast germination and seedling growth, and withstands light shade; low maintenance.

Fun Facts

Unlike warm season grasses, cool season grasses usually form as individual plants from seed only, though varieties like Rhizomatous Tall Fescue (RTF) are an exception. Each seed sprouts a single shoot, which hardens and sprouts new shoots as the original shoot matures, also known as tillering. As this process repeats itself millions of times over, you’re eventually left with a lush, cool season lawn of grass.

In addition, cool season grasses prefer a higher HOC, or height of cut, than their warm season counterparts. General rule of thumb states a minimum height of 40mm, which ensures the grass does not become susceptible to disease or possible weed invasion issues.

Cool season grasses are also generally more shade tolerant, and can be combined with other varieties to perform to your optimum standards based on various strengths and weaknesses.

Though C3 grasses have a lower heat and drought tolerance, especially for those living in places like Western Australia and Queensland, cool season grasses like Perennial Rye Grass (PRG) can be used successfully for over sowing in warm season couch grass.