7 Types of Grass in New Mexico and How to Tell Them Apart

New Mexico is the state where the usual north-south grass map falls apart. The New Mexico Climate Center at NMSU says it plainly: "elevation is a greater factor in determining the temperature of any specific locality than its latitude," with mean temperature dropping "a little more than 3° decrease in temperature for each 1,000 foot increase in elevation." That is why NMSU Extension, after drawing a rough cool-season line at Socorro, immediately names three towns in the southern half of the state that sit on the cool-season side of it anyway: Cloudcroft, Ruidoso, and Silver City. NMSU calls the choice a genuine dilemma: the semiarid climate argues for warm-season grasses, but "low temperatures due to high elevations, particularly in the winter, make cool-season grasses the better choice." Here are the seven grasses that show up in New Mexico yards, how to tell which one is already in yours, and the water numbers NMSU actually measured for each side of the choice.

The types of grass that grow in New Mexico

Kentucky Bluegrass

Kentucky bluegrass is the classic lawn grass of northern New Mexico. NMSU Guide H-511 calls it "the most common cool-season grass grown in lawns in the US" and "common in northern NM," and Guide H-508 notes that while its use "was limited to the cooler parts of New Mexico" historically, newer varieties "come with greater heat tolerance and reduced irrigation requirements, making it suitable for all of New Mexico." The rhizomes are the reason people keep planting it. H-508 says it "spreads by rhizomes and withstands moderate traffic" and "recuperates well from wear injury or heat stress," and NMSU's Farmington trials watched it come back after three straight years of drought-thinned stand once optimal irrigation resumed. Two New Mexico catches. H-509's seeding table marks Kentucky bluegrass seed "Not recommended" for southern New Mexico, and lists sod as available, so in the south this is a grass NMSU would rather you laid than sowed. And at Farmington it was the grass that needed spray: "Several fungicide and insecticide applications were required for disease and insect control during both studies." Mow it at 1 to 3 inches on a home lawn.

Tall Fescue

Tall fescue is the safe answer when you are not sure which side of the state you are gardening on. H-508 says "due to its heat and drought tolerance, tall fescue is a good general-purpose turfgrass for New Mexico," describes it as "a tall-growing, coarse- to medium-textured, bunch-type turfgrass that can be established by seed or sod," and adds that it "resists heavy wear and high temperatures" and "when adequately irrigated, it can be grown successfully in all areas of New Mexico." H-508's table rates it high for traffic tolerance and lists it for both north and south, alongside perennial ryegrass. Read the water claim carefully, though, because NMSU's own trial data trims it: H-511 found that "while fescues have a deeper root system than Kentucky bluegrass, they can be maintained with a lower irrigation frequency," but "the actual quantity of water required by the fescues, however, was the same as that of Kentucky bluegrass in the irrigation studies." Fewer waterings, not less water. It is a bunch-type grass, and at Farmington it "became patchy at low irrigation levels" rather than thinning evenly. It did earn one clear win over bluegrass: the fescues "were not as adversely affected by disease and insects." Mow at 2 to 3.5 inches.

Perennial Ryegrass

Perennial ryegrass is the fast one, and in New Mexico that has a price. H-508 says improved varieties "are well adapted to most of New Mexico, and thus their use has increased greatly," that they "establish quickly and provide good cold tolerance and winter color," and that newer ones "can survive summers even in southern New Mexico." H-508's table gives it high marks for both traffic tolerance and recuperative capability, matching bermudagrass on that pairing. The catch showed up under measurement. At Farmington it "required a higher level of irrigation than all other cool-season grasses to maintain an acceptable quality," and "the quality decreased during the heat of summer" until the turf "appeared somewhat ragged after mowing." H-511 goes as far as saying that because ryegrass "does best in cool, moist regions where temperature extremes and drought do not occur, it may not be a suitable choice for arid northern NM," while allowing that "improved turf-type cultivars may perform better than the multipurpose variety (Seville) evaluated in the ASCF study." It also carries the heaviest seeding rate on NMSU's list alongside tall fescue, 7 to 9 pounds per 1,000 square feet. So check the seed label: NMSU cautions that perennial ryegrass may not suit arid northern New Mexico, while allowing that improved turf-type cultivars may do better than the variety it tested.

Fine Fescue

Fine fescues are the shade answer. H-508 lists fine fescues among the cool-season grasses for the state and rates them medium for both traffic tolerance and recovery, north and south. H-511 evaluated red fescue and hard fescue at Farmington: the red fescue variety Dawson "had a fine leaf blade and exhibited good density and dark green color at the high irrigation levels during most times of the year," and NMSU notes red fescue "is commonly mixed with Kentucky bluegrass, but it is reportedly more shade tolerant than Kentucky bluegrass." Hard fescue showed a seasonal shape worth knowing about: "high quality ratings in spring and fall but lower ratings in summer." When H-511 gets to recommendations it is blunt about where these belong: "if the landscape is shady, a fescue or zoysia would be a better selection than either Kentucky bluegrass or bermudagrass." Fine fescues take the lowest mowing height of the cool-season set at 0.5 to 1.5 inches. NMSU rates them medium for traffic tolerance and does not recommend them for athletic fields.

Bermudagrass

Bermudagrass owns the low desert. H-508 says it is "the species most adapted to and most frequently used in the lower elevations of southern New Mexico," and rates it high for both traffic tolerance and recuperative capability, a pairing it shares with perennial ryegrass and with no other warm-season grass in the table. It "spreads aggressively by stolons (aboveground runners) and rhizomes (belowground runners) and can become a nuisance when it invades flower beds and gardens," which is the same trait read from the other side of the fence. Elevation sets the boundary, and NMSU has the winterkill data to prove it: at Farmington the NM Sahara variety, developed in southern New Mexico, "sustained winterkill damage in subsequent years" and "is not suitable for northern NM where winter temperatures are lower," while four Oklahoma-bred transition-zone varieties came through fine. So bermuda in Albuquerque or Farmington is a variety question, not a yes-or-no question. H-511 also offers a practical bit of New Mexico advice: "it is wise to separate this grass from garden areas with a dry, unirrigated buffer strip or other barrier." Mow it low, 0.5 to 1.5 inches on a home lawn, and NMSU says scalping it in early spring speeds green-up by opening the canopy to sunlight.

Buffalograss

Buffalograss is the native option, and it is the one grass that gets better when you water it less. H-508 says it "is more drought-tolerant and can be sustained on similar water levels to bermudagrass," and that improved seeded types "are denser and of higher quality (more attractive) than the older, dual-purpose forage varieties, yet not as dense as traditional lawn grasses." That last clause is the honest part. At Farmington, "because of light gray-green color and loose density, buffalograsses were given lower quality ratings at high irrigation levels" than bluegrass or bermuda, and "high irrigation also stimulated weed growth in buffalograss." Drop the water and it flips: "at lower irrigation levels, however, seeded buffalograss exhibited more aggressive growth of stolons, so their quality was not as adversely affected by weeds or nitrogen stress compared to other grasses." NMSU's verdict is that it "formed a suitable low-maintenance, drought-tolerant groundcover" rather than a high-quality turf. H-504 sets the usage limit: buffalograss and blue grama are for "areas that receive little or no traffic." NMSU also warns that establishment is the hard part, where "special care must be taken... especially in weed control," and its seed is sold as burrs, each holding one or more seeds, which is why the rate looks high at 3 to 3.5 pounds per 1,000 square feet.

Zoysiagrass

Zoysiagrass is the warm-season grass that behaves in the shade, and the one that asks for the most patience. H-508 lists it for both northern and southern New Mexico, rates it high for traffic tolerance, and says newer varieties "are very dense and can be grown successfully even in the cooler areas of New Mexico." The two warnings are consistent across both guides. Recovery is poor: H-508 says flatly that "zoysiagrasses recover very slowly from injury," so a summer of dog traffic takes a long time to heal. And establishment is slow: it "still establishes slower than bermudagrass." NMSU's seeded trial at Farmington failed for exactly that reason, since "the seedlings were very slow to establish, so a uniform, dense stand did not occur before weeds invaded the plot." But H-511 does not close the door, and the reason is a real northern New Mexico lawn: "this is based on observations of a zoysia (variety Meyer) lawn planted with plugs in San Juan County more than 20 years ago. While establishment was slow, the zoysia formed a dense, high-quality, dark green turfgrass that eventually spread over a much larger area." Seed is on NMSU's table with a rate and a planting window, but it establishes slowly enough that weeds can win the race, which is why that plug-planted lawn is the example NMSU reaches for. Either way, plan on a multi-year horizon. In exchange you get what NMSU calls "one of the few warm-season turfgrasses that is shade tolerant."

Blue grama deserves a mention even without a photo, because it is New Mexico's other native lawn candidate and NMSU has real trial data on it. H-511 calls it "one of the most common grasses growing in the dry hills of the Four Corners region," and at Farmington it "greened up slightly earlier in the spring and went totally dormant a little later in the fall than the other warm-season grasses," giving it the longest green window of the natives. It also held "a fairly dense stand at most levels of irrigation." Two things keep it out of the main list. Its color quality "was rated as low as, or lower, than buffalograss," and NMSU found its "quality ratings decreased significantly when mowed lower than two inches," so two inches is the floor. H-511's own conclusion is worth quoting straight, since plenty of native-lawn advice online skips it: blue grama "may be more suitable as an irrigated pasture or hay crop or drought-tolerant landscape ornamental than as a turfgrass," though it "can be maintained as a turf, especially when mixed with buffalograss." A few other names turn up in NMSU's tables without being lawn grasses for most people. St. Augustinegrass is listed for southern New Mexico but rated low for traffic, and H-509 says its "seed is seldom available." Creeping bentgrass appears for both north and south, rated low for traffic tolerance. The wheatgrasses were tested at Farmington and "given a much lower turfgrass rating than the other grasses in the study" for their "light, grayish-green leaf color and loose density" or poor mowing quality, though NMSU says they are "suitable for use as a drought-tolerant ground cover." Alkaligrass came out last of the cool-season grasses there, since "because of poor density and light color, the alkaligrass had the lowest quality rating of all cool-season grasses in the studies." It earns its place for a different reason: NMSU notes it "withstands soils with high alkalinity and salt content," so it "may be more suitable than the other grasses for planting in poor-quality soils."