Knowing Your LawnA lawn is a garden unto itself, typically populated by over a million grass plants that are all incredibly alike in their structure and growing habits. Those plants are fairly special; of the thousands upon thousands of grass species, only a select group of about 50 are suitable for use in a lawn.
All turfgrass species share a basic structure. Turfgrasses grow from a central node at ground level called a crown. The crown is essentially the main control center of the plant. It sucks up water and nutrients from the roots to fuel the process of photosynthesis in the leaves by which any turfgrass produces its own food. That food is then used to generate both root and leaf growth. Amazingly, even if you severely scalp the top growth and the roots are underfed, dried out, and shriveled up, your grass still has a fighting chance if the crown is intact.
Sturdy stems called shoots grow out of the crown with a protective covering known as a sheath. Each stem is capable of producing several growth nodes, out of which new leaves will sprout. Most people call these leaves blades (technically speaking, only the top portion of the leaf), and the fact that you can cut them again and again without damaging the plant is something that makes grass unique among plants. It’s also the trait that allows you to mow regularly.
Turfgrasses differ in how they grow and spread. Like other grasses, turfgrasses will reproduce by going to seed if you allow them to. But routine lawn mowing prevents this from happening. Instead, turfgrasses grow new plants in one of three ways. Rhizomatous grasses create new growth at the end of underground stems, called rhizomes. Stoloniferous grasses produce new plants at nodes along stolons, essentially rhizomes that creep along aboveground setting new plants down into the soil. Clumping grasses don’t send out stolons; they grow new stems called tillers, directly out of the crown. The bushy growth habit is why clump grasses are sometimes called bush or bunch grasses.
The reason this distinction matters to homeowners is because stoloniferous and rhizomatous grasses tend to fill out more quickly and fully, making for a lusher lawn. That’s why they are the most popular varieties for lawns.
Turfgrasses can be classified as annual or perennial, but the vast majority of lawns are perennial grasses. It’s not very useful to have your lawn die out every year. The more important division is seasonality. Some grasses grow best in warmer parts (called warm-season grasses) of the country, while others thrive in cooler areas (called, predictably, cool-season grasses).
Knowing what grass species you have, how it spreads, and what season it prefers determines when you should fertilize and water, how you should mow and maintain the lawn, and what pests and problems you can expect to battle.
Some turfgrass plants grow out from a central crown that provides moisture and nutrients to the leaves so that essential photosynthesis can occur.
