NZLA Lawn Seed: An Overview
NZLA Lawn Seed: An Overview
Choosing the best lawn seed in New Zealand depends on your lawn’s specific use, local climate, soil conditions, and your ability to provide irrigation when needed.
The NZLA Lawn Seed Range offers a variety of seed blends specially designed to thrive in New Zealand’s unique conditions, helping you create a lawn that looks great and suits your lifestyle. Whether you’re after a lawn that can handle heavy foot traffic from kids and pets or something low-maintenance, there’s a grass seed mix to match. When choosing the best lawn seed for your needs, consider factors like foot traffic, watering requirements, and sunlight exposure.
Why choose NZLA seed?
At NZLA we use 100% certified seed in all of our lawn seed blends, you can be confident in the quality of every bag you buy. See our article ‘Why Choose NZLA Seed’ here.
NZLA Perennial Ryegrass
Foot Traffic Tolerance: High. Perennial Ryegrass recovers quickly from damage, making it a reliable choice for high-use lawns and play areas.
Watering Requirements: Moderate to high. It requires regular watering to maintain its lush appearance, especially in warmer climates.
Optimal Growth Temperature: Performs best in cooler climates with an ideal range of 10°C to 20°C.
Temperature Tolerance: Can tolerate cold temperatures down to -5°C, making it suitable for frosty areas, but struggles in prolonged heat above 30°C without regular watering.
Sun Requirements: Grows best in full sun but can tolerate light shade.
Key Features: Known for its vibrant green colour and quick germination, Perennial Ryegrass is a great choice for overseeding and rapid lawn establishment. However, it doesn’t handle drought well and requires regular mowing and fertilising to stay healthy.
NZLA offers four ryegrass varieties, all with similar key characteristics like durability and quick establishment, but the main difference lies in colour.
The Standard Ryegrass is a great choice if you’re not overly concerned with Poa or other foreign grasses, as it blends well with these species for a more uniform look. For a richer, darker lawn, Dark Rye and Midnight Dark Rye provide deeper green tones, but this can make foreign grasses more noticeable due to the contrast. If achieving the best lawn stripes is your priority, either of the dark ryegrass varieties offered by NZLA would be ideal.
RSR Ryegrass features modest spreading qualities, making it effective at filling in small damaged areas, such as stud marks on sports fields caused by players’ boots. While it doesn’t spread as aggressively as warm-season grasses, its ability to establish through spreading stolons makes it an excellent choice for high-traffic areas.
NZLA Tall Fescue
Foot Traffic Tolerance: High. Tall Fescue is robust and handles moderate to heavy foot traffic, making it ideal for family lawns.
Watering Requirements: Moderate. Its deep roots make it more drought-tolerant than many grasses, but it benefits from consistent watering during dry periods.
Optimal Growth Temperature: Thrives in temperate climates with an ideal range of 18°C to 24°C.
Temperature Tolerance: Withstands heat up to 32°C if watered properly and tolerates cold down to -10°C, remaining green in milder winters.
Sun Requirements: Tolerates partial shade but performs better with at least 4 hours of sunlight daily.
Key Features: Tall Fescue is a cool-season grass that retains its green colour year-round in temperate climates. It has a coarser texture than Fine Fescue but requires less mowing than faster-growing varieties like Kikuyu. It is also shade-tolerant and adapts well to various soil types.
NZLA offers two varieties of tall fescue. The key difference between Elfin Tall Fescue (ETF) and regular tall fescue lies in their growth habits. Regular tall fescue grows in clumps, making it durable and well-suited for high-traffic areas, but it doesn’t naturally spread to repair damaged spots.
Elfin Tall Fescue, however, produces rhizomes—underground stems that allow the grass to spread and fill in bare patches over time. This self-repairing ability makes ETF a great choice for lawns or fields that need extra resilience and recovery, particularly in areas prone to wear or minor damage. This shouldn’t be compared with the spreading speed of warm season grass as it is much slower.
Both types share similar benefits, such as deep roots for drought tolerance and a lush, attractive appearance. However, ETF offers a more uniform and lower-maintenance option and can also handle being mowed shorter than other tall fescue cultivars. In my opinion, though, the standard tall fescue is the better-looking grass.
NZLA Fine Fescue
Foot Traffic Tolerance: Moderate. Fine Fescue is not ideal for high-traffic areas but handles light to moderate use well.
Watering Requirements: Low. It is highly drought-tolerant and performs well in areas with limited water availability.
Optimal Growth Temperature: Thrives in cooler climates with an ideal range of 15°C to 24°C.
Temperature Tolerance: Performs well in temperatures as low as -5°C and tolerates brief hot spells up to 28°C, though excessive heat can stress it.
Sun Requirements: Grows best in shaded areas and is an excellent option for lawns with trees or nearby buildings.
Key Features: Fine Fescue is known for its fine texture and graceful appearance. It thrives in shaded areas, making it a good choice for lawns with trees or buildings. It requires less fertiliser and mowing but struggles in overly hot or wet conditions.
NZLA Couch Grass
Foot Traffic Tolerance: High. Couch grass recovers well from wear and tear, making it a popular choice for sports fields and busy lawns.
Watering Requirements: Low to moderate. It is drought-tolerant once established but benefits from occasional deep watering.
Optimal Growth Temperature: Grows best between 25°C and 35°C, flourishing during hot summer months.
Temperature Tolerance: Can survive extreme heat above 40°C but becomes dormant when temperatures drop below 10°C. It may turn brown in winter but regrows quickly in warmer months.
Sun Requirements: Thrives in full sun and performs poorly in shaded areas.
Key Features: Couch grass has fine leaves and creates a dense, soft lawn. It thrives in full sun and doesn’t tolerate shade well. While low-maintenance in terms of water, it requires regular dethatching to prevent a spongy surface.
NZLA Kikuyu Grass
Foot Traffic Tolerance: Excellent. Kikuyu grass is tough and resilient, making it ideal for active households or areas with heavy foot traffic.
Watering Requirements: Moderate to high. It thrives in areas with regular rainfall or supplemental irrigation.
Optimal Growth Temperature: Thrives between 20°C and 30°C, where its vigorous growth is most noticeable.
Temperature Tolerance: Tolerates up to 38°C in hot conditions but becomes dormant below 10°C, losing its vibrant green colour in frosty climates.
Sun Requirements: Performs best in full sun and struggles significantly in shaded areas.
Key Features: Kikuyu is a fast-growing grass that establishes quickly but requires frequent mowing. It performs well in full sun but struggles in shaded areas. Its aggressive growth can make it invasive, so proper lawn edging is critical.
