Learn about lawns that grow well in Middle Georgia

As promised in last week’s column, here is some advice about lawns that work well in Middle Georgia.

▪ Bermuda is a full-sun lawn turf. Avoid using common bermuda. Try Tifway, which is neater.

▪ Zoyzia is dark green in color and has some shade tolerance. Take a look at Zenith.

▪ Centipede is probably the most used lawn turf in the Middle Georgia area. It likes full sun to part shade, and is low maintenance. Take a look at new varieties like TifBlair, which is drought tolerant with low fertility requirements.

▪ St. Augustine is the most shade tolerant of the lawns in our area. This grass is a little coarse in texture, but it is an easy-care, Southern, shade lawn.

▪ Fescue is deep green, fine textured and makes a very beautiful lawn — if you live north of Atlanta. It just doesn’t perform well here with our hot summers. Regrettably, fescue is a waste of money in Middle Georgia.

Here are more tips and advice for the garden this week.

▪ What’s blooming: Cherry “Okame,” lenten rose, hyacinths, bradford pear, daffodil, lorepetalum, saucer magnolia, forsythia and azalea.

▪ Here’s an easy way to display daffodils. Cut daffodil flowers with long stems. Tie string, raffia or thin ribbon around the middle of the stems and place them in a vase. The more the merrier.

▪ It is still too early for annuals, but hardy perennials can be planted now.

▪ Last call to apply a pre-emergent herbicide to lawns. Use a weed and feed for existing weeds in about a month. Get more information about this at FernValley.com.

▪ When do you prune lantana? Not yet! Wait for the new growth to show at the base of the plant.

▪ Apply fertilizer to roses now as they begin to break dormancy. It’s too late to cut back “Knockout” roses without delaying the start of flowering.

▪ Hybrid roses are showing up in nurseries now. They make for great flowers, but are more work!

▪ Time to get out the mower. Use a low setting on the lawn mower with the catcher for the first cut of the season. This will remove dead grass from last fall, and pick up any other debris.

This story was originally published February 28, 2017 at 1:41 PM with the headline "Learn about lawns that grow well in Middle Georgia."