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

WVU Extension writes two of its lawn recommendations with a condition inside them, and in West Virginia that condition is the whole story. It does not recommend fine fescue "in parts of the state where summer temperatures are above 85°F for prolonged periods," without saying which parts those are. It limits warm-season grass to "some areas of the state," without naming them. Filling in those blanks takes the state's own climate numbers, and they vary more than almost anywhere else in the East: the state climatologist puts the elevation range at 247 feet near Harpers Ferry and 4,863 feet at Spruce Knob, rising gradually from the Ohio River eastward, and NOAA calls this the highest average elevation east of the Mississippi River. Add the acid soil WVU keeps warning about and you have the two questions worth answering before you buy seed. Here is the grass lineup, how to tell which one is already in your yard, and the dates WVU publishes.

The types of grass that grow in West Virginia

Tall Fescue

Tall fescue is one of the three grasses WVU Extension names when it describes a typical lawn here: "Lawns in West Virginia are usually composed of cool season grasses, such as perennial ryegrass, Kentucky bluegrass and tall fescue." Against Kentucky bluegrass specifically, WVU credits it on three counts. It establishes faster, since "Perennial ryegrass and tall fescue establish faster than Kentucky bluegrass and are more tolerant to wear." It costs less to feed, because "the fertility requirements of Kentucky bluegrass are higher than those of fescues." And it resists weed invasion better: WVU's weed sheet says "A lawn of Kentucky bluegrass, for example, is more susceptible to weed competition than a lawn of ryegrass or tall fescue." WVU also notes fescues are "more tolerant of drought and higher mowing heights," which matters on a sloped lot where water runs off before it soaks in. Virginia Cooperative Extension, just across the ridge, explains why: tall fescue "has the deepest root system of the cool-season lawn grasses grown in this area." The catch applies to the cool-season grasses generally. WVU says these species "tend to become semi-dormant during the hot summer months making lawns prone to attack by crabgrasses." Seed it at 4 to 8 pounds per 1,000 square feet.

Kentucky Bluegrass

Kentucky bluegrass is the better-looking and more demanding option, and WVU Extension is direct about the trade. Its seed guidance says bluegrass "prefers full sun and provides darker color and better mowing quality than ryegrass or tall fescue," then immediately adds that "the fertility requirements of Kentucky bluegrass are higher than those of fescues" and that it establishes more slowly than either ryegrass or tall fescue. WVU's weed sheet lists it as the more weed-prone lawn of the group. Mowing height is where a bluegrass lawn is usually won or lost: WVU reports that bluegrass "mowed at a height of 1 inch produces fewer grass roots and rhizomes compared to the same grass mowed at 2.5 to 3 inches," and it is those rhizomes that let bluegrass close its own bare spots. Shade is the other limit, and it rules out a lot of wooded lots. WVU says "Certain improved Kentucky bluegrass cultivars have also shown varying levels of adaptation to shade, although most cultivars of this grass species require full sunlight." Watch for leaf spot too: WVU notes common Kentucky bluegrass "is susceptible to Drechslera Leaf Spot and may be seriously affected." Seed at 1 to 2 pounds per 1,000 square feet.

Fine Fescue

Fine fescue is WVU Extension's answer for shade, and it says so without hedging: "Of the cool-season turfgrasses, fine fescues are best adapted for shady areas," with "finer leaf textures compared to other turf species." It is also the low-input member of the group, since WVU rates the fescues below bluegrass on fertility and above it on drought and mowing height. Then comes the sentence that turns fine fescue into a question about your particular yard. WVU says fine fescues "grow quite well in cool, dry shade" but "are not recommended for poorly-drained soils or in parts of the state where summer temperatures are above 85°F for prolonged periods." WVU never says which parts. NOAA's West Virginia climate summary is the closest thing to an answer: summer average maximum temperatures run "around 85°F in the southwest, near the Ohio River, to less than 80°F in the east-central mountains." That is a gradient across the state rather than a line on a map, but it tells you which end you are nearer. Drainage is the other half of the same WVU sentence and it is easier to check: if the spot stays soggy, fine fescue is not the fix. Seed at 3 to 5 pounds per 1,000 square feet, which is the rate WVU gives for what it calls the thin fescues.

Perennial Ryegrass

Perennial ryegrass is the third grass in WVU Extension's description of a typical West Virginia lawn, and it often turns up in a mixture doing a specific job. WVU explains the role: "Some mixtures may contain a 'nurse grass' such as ryegrass that will encourage swift lawn establishment but later transition to the dominant grass species in the lawn." It earns that job honestly, because WVU rates ryegrass and tall fescue as faster to establish than bluegrass and "more tolerant to wear," which is worth something on a slope you are trying to hold through a wet spring. Where it disappoints is shade, and WVU spells out exactly how: ryegrass in shade "will give a good cover early in the season" but the stands "are usually severely thinned by the end of the season; annual reseeding helps remediate this condition." So ryegrass in a shaded yard is a recurring job rather than a finished lawn. Virginia Cooperative Extension is blunter about the wider trade, listing "Poor drought, heat, and cold tolerance" among its weaknesses and rating its overall maintenance requirement as high. Read the seed tag before you buy, so you know how much of the bag is doing long-term work. Seed at 4 to 8 pounds per 1,000 square feet.

Zoysiagrass

Zoysiagrass is one of two warm-season grasses WVU Extension mentions for West Virginia, and the mention comes with a caveat attached: warm-season grasses "such as zoysiagrass and Bermudagrass, are not generally grown in West Virginia's cool climate, but are grown in some areas of the state with varying levels of success." WVU does not name those areas, publishes no zoysia cultivar list, and does not recommend it as a default anywhere in the state. The one distinction WVU does draw between the two is shade: "Certain varieties of zoysiagrass are more shade-tolerant than others, but Bermudagrass will not tolerate shade." For anything beyond that you have to cross the state line. Virginia Cooperative Extension, writing for the Virginia mountains next door, says zoysiagrass "has satisfactory cold tolerance" there, describes an "exceptionally dense canopy," and rates its maintenance as low once established, while warning it is slow to repair damage and a heavy thatch producer. Know what you are signing up for either way. WVU's weed sheet treats "volunteer Bermudagrass or zoysia grass" as species that must be killed completely before a new lawn goes in, because they "can be difficult to manage if not controlled completely prior to establishing the new lawn." Warm-season grass goes in during late spring or early summer, not September.

Bermudagrass

Bermudagrass sits inside the same careful WVU Extension sentence as zoysia: warm-season grasses "are not generally grown in West Virginia's cool climate, but are grown in some areas of the state with varying levels of success." WVU names no West Virginia region for it and endorses no cultivar. It does add one hard limit: "Bermudagrass will not tolerate shade." That single clause disqualifies a great many yards in a state where the state climatologist reports Elkins and Beckley at 212 and 210 days of heavy cloud cover a year, and where hillsides and mature trees shade plenty of lots outright. The other place WVU discusses bermudagrass is its weed sheet, which groups "volunteer Bermudagrass" with zoysia as previous turf that has to be controlled completely before a new lawn is established, warning that these grasses "can be difficult to manage if not controlled completely prior to establishing the new lawn." Virginia Cooperative Extension describes the spread that makes that true: bermudagrass has "rhizomes and stolons" and is "noted for their extremely fast lateral spread rates." If you find wiry runners on the surface of a fescue lawn and that patch browns well before the rest of the yard, identify it before you decide what to do about it.

Two absences are worth stating plainly, because seed racks in border towns will suggest otherwise. WVU Extension publishes no lawn guidance for St. Augustinegrass, centipedegrass, bahiagrass, or buffalograss in West Virginia, so none of them appear here. WVU also publishes no recommended cultivar list for lawn turf at all, which is why this page names species and not varieties. When a bag promises a named variety "for West Virginia," that claim is coming from the seed company, not from the extension service.