8 Types of Grass in Nevada and How to Tell Which You Have

Nevada runs at least two lawn climates and two watering rulebooks, and they barely speak to one another. University of Nevada, Reno Extension writes its turf guidance that way too, splitting it between the Mojave Desert and the Lake Tahoe Basin with general northern Nevada advice in between. The grass that thrives in a Henderson backyard will sulk at Incline Village, and the reverse. On top of that, the rules differ: the Southern Nevada Water Authority tells Las Vegas Valley customers which days of the week their sprinklers may run and bans them outright on Sunday, while the Truckee Meadows Water Authority assigns Reno and Sparks three days by house-number parity and asks for Mondays off. So the honest answer to "what grass grows in Nevada" is a list of eight, plus a map of where each one belongs and what the local water rules will let you do with it.

The types of grass that grow in Nevada

Bermudagrass

Bermudagrass is the backbone warm-season lawn of southern Nevada, and it comes with a Nevada footnote most states do not have. University of Nevada, Reno Extension says bermudagrass "can be found as either the common or hybrid form producing both rhizomes and stolons," and then adds the local catch: because of its heavy pollen, "In Clark County, Nev., ordinances prohibit the planting of common bermudagrass for this reason." UNR repeats it in its establishment guide, saying common bermudagrass "cannot be planted in Clark County, Nev., due to allergies from its pollen production." UNR describes the hybrid forms as "finer textured, more restrained in its growth" and greener later into fall, and says "Hybrid bermuda produces less pollen and is more suitable where allergies are a concern," though hybrids must go in vegetatively because they "produce few living seeds." Bermuda is also the grass Nevada overseeds: UNR says that if you want winter color, "bermudagrasses are the best choice as a warm season grass since they can be overseeded more successfully than most other warm season grasses." Two things to plan around. UNR warns that "Very few bermudagrasses tolerate shade from trees," and that common bermudagrass "is an aggressive grass which can be invasive in flower beds and gardens and difficult to contain," adding that "Frequent mowing and trimming helps keep it restrained."

Tall Fescue

Tall fescue is the surprise of southern Nevada. It is a cool-season grass, and yet UNR Extension says turf-type tall fescue "has proven to be the most popular lawngrass in the transition zone of the Mojave Desert, even though it is among the highest in water use." UNR credits three things for that: "its tolerance to high summer temperatures, relatively low maintenance and persistence of its green color through the winter months." In other words, it stays green in January when the bermuda next door is straw-colored, which is exactly what a lot of Las Vegas homeowners want. UNR explains the heat trick as biology, saying tall fescue "can better withstand high temperatures due to its basic biology and extensive root system compared with other cool-season grasses," and its establishment guide calls it the cool-season grass that "tolerates our desert summer heat the best." It works up north too. UNR planted three dwarf turf-type tall fescues in its Lake Tahoe Basin demonstration plots and noted that "Because of their late green-up in the spring and early dormancy in the fall, gardeners may have a tendency to overwater these grasses." Tall fescue is a bunchgrass, and UNR says that because bunchgrasses "do not form rhizomes or stolons, they cannot mend sizable damaged areas and must be repaired by seeding or sodding." That is also why UNR notes plastic netting "is sometimes used in producing tall fescue sod."

Kentucky Bluegrass

Kentucky bluegrass is a northern Nevada grass that southern Nevada should mostly leave alone. In UNR Extension's Lake Tahoe Basin turf trials it anchors the traditional lawn mixes, with Turf Mix 1 built from "80 percent 'Baron' Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis 'Baron') and 20 percent perennial ryegrass," and UNR notes it "is one of the most commonly used turf grasses, but requires frequent irrigation." Head south and the verdict flips. UNR's Mojave guidance is blunt: "Most Kentucky bluegrass varieties suffer from high temperature stress during the hot summer months in the middle and lower elevations of the Mojave Desert. It should probably be avoided unless grown in a mixture with other turfgrasses, and the variety has been documented for tolerance to high temperatures." What bluegrass brings anywhere it does work is self-repair. UNR describes it as a sod-forming grass that produces rhizomes, which is why it gets blended into tall fescue sod: UNR says "the bluegrass has been used for its sod-forming characteristics" to knit the bunchgrass together. If you are in Reno, Elko or the Tahoe Basin and your lawn quietly fills in its own worn patches, bluegrass can be one reason, though other spreading grasses in a blend can do the same.

Perennial Ryegrass

Perennial ryegrass has two completely separate jobs in Nevada. In the south it is the overseed. When a bermuda lawn goes dormant, UNR Extension says "Perennial ryegrass is preferred to annual ryegrass for overseeding because of its superior color, texture and mowing qualities. However the seed is more expensive." UNR also flags that the arrangement resets every year: "Even though some perennial ryegrasses persist through the heat of the summer, the bermudagrass must be overseeded each fall if a solid stand of perennial ryegrass is desired." A few heat-tolerant cultivars, UNR names Palmer and Prelude, have shown promise as year-round lawns in the middle elevations of the Mojave. In the north, ryegrass is the fast starter in a seed mix. UNR's Tahoe publication describes it as "a short-lived perennial grass that establishes quickly, but is shade intolerant," and gives it a hard limit worth knowing at elevation: "It does need a minimum of 100 frost-free days for survival. It tolerates temperatures down to minus 18 degrees F." Like tall fescue it is a bunchgrass, and UNR groups both with the grasses that "do not form rhizomes and stolons."

Fine Fescue

The fine fescues are northern Nevada specialists, and UNR Extension's Tahoe Basin work sorts them into two useful groups. Creeping red fescue is the one that behaves like turf: UNR says it "quickly forms a turf with its strong spreading rhizomes," has "a fine leaf texture," and "can be long-lived at high elevations and tolerates shade well." It went into two of the four demonstration lawn mixes, and one plot was creeping red fescue on its own. Hard fescue and sheep fescue are the low-input group. UNR notes that "Hard fescue and sheep fescue grow in clumps. The spreading growth pattern of red fescue helps fill in bare areas between clumps," and puts all three into an erosion-control mix that, once established late in its second summer, needs "only once-per-week watering and little fertilizer to keep them green throughout the growing season." That is the pitch for a Tahoe Basin property. UNR notes those erosion-control plots are cut down once late in the summer when the stalks dry out, and that the dead stems "should be removed for fire safety," which is a maintenance step a conventional lawn does not ask for.

Zoysiagrass

Zoysiagrass is the patient option for a southern Nevada lawn that takes a beating. UNR Extension says zoysias "are tough and wear resistant grasses after establishment. They tolerate our desert soils, survive in moderate shade and are very resistant to foot traffic," which makes it the rare warm-season grass that handles both a play area and some tree cover. The price is time. UNR notes mowing is infrequent "every 10-14 days," but that the same slow growth means lawns started from sprigs or stolons "may take two to three seasons to fill in completely," so "it is best to establish it from sod." That slowness also closes off the winter overseed that bermudagrass allows: UNR says the slow growth "prevents it from being overseeded in the fall due to poor spring recovery," so a zoysia lawn is simply brown in a Las Vegas winter. UNR points to faster newer selections, saying "Newer selections of zoysia, such as El Toro, establish more quickly and are more desirable as a lawn grass." UNR also notes that "Once damaged, zoysias are slow to recover," so it rewards a yard that is used steadily rather than torn up.

Buffalograss

Buffalograss is the low-water native, and in a state where the water agency pays people to remove lawn, that matters. UNR Extension lists it among the warm-season grasses that grow in the mid-elevation Mojave transition zone and says these grasses "are drought tolerant, low in water use and require little additional fertilizer and are sod forming," adding that the newer introductions "rival some of the better hybrid bermudagrasses in appearance." Up north, UNR's northern Nevada lawn alternatives guide names blue grama, a close prairie relative, among the ornamental grasses that suit the Reno area. The trade-offs are real and UNR states them plainly. Buffalograss is "not as wear-tolerant as bermuda and, like bermuda, do not persist in the shade." It also does not enjoy being pampered: "Unlike zoysia and bermudagrass, buffalograss is not a strong competitor when fertilized and irrigated. It tends to get weedy under these conditions and will not tolerate overseeding for winter color." And UNR adds an allergy note that echoes the Clark County pollen rule: "Seeded buffalograss, like common bermudagrass, is NOT recommended if allergies are a problem."

St. Augustinegrass

St. Augustinegrass is southern Nevada's shade answer, and UNR Extension frames it as a fix for landscapes that have grown up around their trees. UNR says it "is a very coarse-textured grass that probably has the best shade tolerance of the warm-season grasses. It has been used to replace bermudagrass in shady locations of maturing desert landscapes and tolerates our desert soils." That is a precise use case, not a general recommendation. UNR is equally clear about the limits: "It may have difficulty surviving low winter temperatures in some colder areas," which keeps it in the warm valleys and out of northern Nevada, and "Like zoysias, St. Augustine is also slow to fill in after planting from plugs, requiring a full season or more to cover. It should not be overseeded." So expect a full brown winter with no ryegrass cover crop. The texture is the giveaway, since UNR calls it very coarse where it calls hybrid bermuda and creeping red fescue fine.

Other Nevada grasses and lawn alternatives did not get their own photo. Seashore paspalum is the salt specialist: UNR Extension says it "was considered to be a specialty grass used primarily for its tolerance to very high salts," that by the 1990s it "had become a mainstream warm-season turfgrass," and that it "tolerates our desert soils, persists under low fertility and is drought-tolerant" while refusing shade. It matters in southern Nevada mostly on golf courses and reclaimed-water sites rather than front lawns. Streambank wheatgrass and the meadow-mix grasses are the Tahoe Basin's erosion-control set; UNR describes 'Sodar' streambank wheatgrass as an erosion control grass that "is low-growing and spreads readily through underground stems called rhizomes," and its meadow mix folds in Sandberg bluegrass, mountain brome, slender wheatgrass and tufted hairgrass. And blue grama shows up in UNR's northern Nevada lawn alternatives guide alongside blue fescue, Great Basin wild rye and blue oat grass as an ornamental grass for the Reno area, which is a different job from a mowed lawn but often the right one.