6 Types of Grass in Utah and How to Tell Which You Have

Along the Wasatch Front and in Cache Valley, a lot of yards run on secondary water, the untreated canal water that the state now requires to be metered by 2030, and in a drought year the local district decides how many days a week you get to use it. That changes which grass makes sense here. The Utah State University Extension turf program has a clear lineup, and it is mostly cool-season: Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, fine fescue, and perennial ryegrass, with buffalograss for people who want to water less on purpose and bermudagrass in the warm St. George corner. Here is the rundown, how to tell which one you already have, and the timing USU publishes for each part of the state.

The types of grass that grow in Utah

Kentucky Bluegrass

Kentucky bluegrass is the default Utah lawn. USU's northern Utah establishment guide says "Cool-season turf species, such as Kentucky bluegrass, are most commonly planted in northern Utah," and USU's plant pest lab puts it plainer: "Most lawns in Utah are comprised of cultivars of Kentucky bluegrass (KBG), perennial ryegrass and fine fescue." USU's cultivar guide says it is "best suited to lawns that will have a lot of traffic and full sun to partial shade" and that it "recovers well from frequent use," which is the rhizomes talking: bluegrass heals its own bare spots. The Utah catches are water and salt. It is a higher-water option than tall fescue or buffalograss, so it is the lawn most likely to go dormant when the district drops you to two waterings a week, and USU's salt guide says high soil salt limits "some turfgrasses, especially Kentucky bluegrass," which matters on the alkaline soils west of the Wasatch. USU also flags summer patch and necrotic ring spot as diseases it is susceptible to when it is mismanaged.

Tall Fescue

Tall fescue is the grass USU keeps nudging Utah homeowners toward. The cultivar guide calls it "a good general purpose turfgrass for Utah" that "often has greater heat tolerance and can tolerate more shade than Kentucky bluegrass," and adds that it "may also get by on somewhat less irrigation due to its deep rooting." That deep rooting is the whole story on secondary water: when the canal schedule gets tight, a grass that reaches deeper for moisture has more to work with. USU's pest lab recommends turf-type tall fescue as "a viable alternative to KBG, ryegrass, fine fescues, and other cool-season species for home lawns in Utah," particularly for lawns that keep getting summer patch and necrotic ring spot, and USU's salt guide rates its salt tolerance well above bluegrass. USU's cultivar list for Utah includes Coronado Gold, Blade Runner, Inferno, Matador GT, Cayenne, and Silverstar. Like the other bunch-type grasses it does not spread by runners, so bare spots are generally filled by overseeding rather than by the grass itself.

Fine Fescue

Fine fescues are the quiet third of a typical Utah blend, the species USU's pest lab names alongside bluegrass and ryegrass as what most Utah lawns are made of. USU's cultivar guide says they are "ideal for shady areas" with "slower growth and low fertilizer needs," and that "most are drought tolerant." Read that as: the north side of the house, under the big spruce, along the fence where the sprinklers barely reach. Slow growth and low fertilizer needs also make them the low-input member of the group. Fine fescues are bunch-type grasses that thin under heavy foot traffic, so they suit quieter areas better than a play lawn. USU's salt guide rates their salt tolerance in the middle of the pack, better than bluegrass. USU lists a long cultivar set for Utah, including Marco Polo, Bighorn, Audubon, Inverness, Garnet, Dawson, and Tiffany. In practice you will meet them inside a blend rather than as a whole lawn, and the thread-thin blades give them away.

Perennial Ryegrass

Perennial ryegrass earns its spot in a Utah blend for speed. It is the fastest of the cool-season lawn grasses to germinate, so it holds the soil on a new seeding while the slower bluegrass comes up behind it, and USU's cultivar guide says it "can provide the most formal appearance of the turfgrasses." The same sentence carries the warning: it is "relatively high maintenance." Ryegrass wants regular water and fertilizer to keep that formal look, which is a real cost on a rationed canal schedule. It is a bunchgrass and will not fill damage on its own. Where it does shine is salt: USU's salt guide rates it alongside tall fescue at the top of the common lawn grasses for salinity tolerance, which is worth knowing if your secondary water runs a little brackish. USU's Utah cultivar list includes Amazing GS, Calypso II, Caddieshack II, Paragon GLR, and Uno. Read the seed label; a bag that is mostly ryegrass buys a fast lawn now and a high-maintenance one after that.

Buffalograss

Buffalograss is the grass USU points to when someone asks how to keep a lawn and stop fighting the water district. The cultivar guide says buffalograss lawns "require much less water to remain green during summer," and USU's Center for Water-Efficient Landscaping calls it "a good turf choice for Intermountain landscapes." The catch is the calendar: USU notes it is "dormant (brown) in early spring and much of the fall season," and its salt-affected-sites guide says these warm-season natives "green up in late May and brown with the first hard frost in the fall." So you trade a long green season for a lawn that asks far less of the canal schedule. USU lists Texoka, Cody, Bison, Sharps Improved, Legacy, Bowie, and SWI 2000 as cultivars that fit Utah, and says it is among the "excellent choices for naturalized or low maintenance lawns" where soil salt is relatively low. It is a warm-season native with a gray-green color rather than a bluegrass green, and USU notes that the common Utah lawn species, "including buffalograss, can all be mowed at a height of 2-4 inches."

Bermudagrass

Bermudagrass is used as a lawn in Washington County, especially around St. George. USU's southern Utah establishment guide says "Warm-season grasses grown in the region include buffalograss, bermudagrass (in Washington County), and zoysiagrass," and the St. George turf calendar says warm-season grasses such as "Buffalograss and bermudagrass, should be seeded in the spring or early summer months to take best advantage of the warmer temperatures." Outside that warm corner, USU's weed control guide treats it as an invader: it "actively grows when daytime temperatures are above 80° F," it "spreads by rhizomes, stolons and seed," and removing it from a cool-season lawn takes triclopyr or fenoxaprop where "repeated applications are necessary over a period of 2-3 years." Along the Wasatch Front it is a weed, and a stubborn one. Bermuda is a warm-season grass that is mowed lower than the cool-season lawns and goes brown through the cold months, so a St. George bermuda lawn spends winter dormant.

Two more names deserve a mention without a photo. Blue grama is the other native warm-season grass USU recommends for Utah, and its salt-affected-sites guide says "Where salt levels are relatively low, blue grama and buffalograss are excellent choices for naturalized or low maintenance lawns," with the note that the two "can be planted together, but do not mix well with other grass species." Expect the same late-May green-up and first-frost shutdown as buffalograss. Wheatgrasses (USU lists RoadCrest, Fairway, and Ephraim) are for the far end of the water scale: USU calls them "most appropriate in areas where you cannot or do not plan to irrigate," which makes them a pasture-edge grass rather than a front lawn. Zoysiagrass also turns up in southern Utah, but USU offers no cultivar guidance for it, so it stays a footnote here.