The Best Grasses for a Drought-Tolerant Lawn

Our summers are getting warmer, with heatwaves becoming more regular and longer-lasting. As many homeowners still long for lush, green grass during summer, more eyes must be on drought-tolerant grasses. So what types of grass make the most drought-tolerant lawn?

Bermudagrass and buffalograss top the list of warm-season grasses, while fescues are the best cool-season grasses for a drought-tolerant lawn. However, just because a lawn is drought-tolerant, it doesn’t mean it never needs watering. Even tough lawns may turn brown in summer and need moisture to keep them green. A drought-tolerant grass may just stay green for longer.

Here we look at which warm- and cool-season grasses can withstand dry conditions better than others. You can choose to sow or plant them on their own as part of your lawn care regime, or use a mix for improved results (like this bag of drought-tolerant grass seed on Walmart). Let’s see what the experts recommend for a tough, drought-tolerant lawn you can enjoy for longer in summer.

Best Warm-Season Grasses for a Drought-Tolerant Lawn

Bermudagrass

Bermudagrass is a great choice for a drought-tolerant lawn if you live in warmer southern climates. It is a fast-growing grass for US hardiness zones 7-10.

Christian Lavender from LawnStarter hails Bermudagrass as ‘the gold standard’ for a drought-tolerant lawn. ‘Bermudagrass is hardy, tolerates traffic, and grows deep roots,’ he claims. ‘The one drawback is that it absolutely needs full sun.’

Bermudagrass makes a top drought-tolerant lawn thanks to its deep roots, which penetrate far down into the soil to seek moisture. It can withstand periods of drought and recovers quickly when it gets moisture.

It can perform on a wide variety of soil types, and bermudagrass creates a thick, green lawn that can cope with heavy summer foot traffic.

Bermudagrass requires sun and warmth to thrive, along with regular mowing around once a week during the growing seasons. Homeowners should also fertilize Bermudagrass in late spring to get it ready for the season ahead.

Buffalograss

Buffalograss is a native warm-season grass from the Great Plains and represents the best native choice for a drought-tolerant lawn. It naturally evolved to thrive in areas with low rainfall and can survive long periods with little moisture.

David Caruso, CEO of MyLawn, claims buffalograss is often his company’s top recommendation for a warm-season lawn. He continues: ‘It’s got a deep root system that goes looking for water long after the surface has dried out, and it copes with heat better than almost anything else you can plant.’

Buffalograss offers an excellent choice for sunny gardens down to US hardiness zone 4. It is a type of grass that can handle both winter cold and extreme summer heat.

The extremely drought-tolerant grass needs little irrigation once established, and also requires less mowing than other common lawn grasses.

Christian Lavender claims that buffalograss will ‘brown more easily’ than bermudagrass during drought, but then ‘bounce back with rain’. A lawn can go dormant during a heatwave to conserve energy. The top growth turns brown, but the roots are alive. It is a normal sight, and it quickly recovers once it gets moisture.

Buffalograss also goes dormant when temperatures drop. It turns a straw-like color and then greens up when soil temperatures return to around 60°F. So don’t panic about brown grass in winter, either; the grass is alive beneath the surface and conserving energy for next year.

Zoysia

Zoysia grass

(Image credit: Getty Images/HendSTD)

Zoysia is a popular choice for front and back lawns. It reliably creates a dense, green lawn that can handle periods of drought once established.

‘Zoysia is slower to establish than other warm-season grasses, but once it’s in, it handles drought and foot traffic well,’ says David Caruso. He describes zoysia as a dependable alternative to his top buffalograss pick for a low-maintenance, drought-tolerant lawn.

Zoysia is a tough choice for a lawn and can be a grass for full sun or light shade. It is suitable for southern and transitional US hardiness zones and will give homeowners a light to medium green lawn that withstands the rigors of summer activities and family gatherings.

It is another that will turn brown during periods of drought and green up when it gets moisture. Zoysia also enters winter dormancy when the soil temperature drops below 60°F.

What to Shop

Zoysia Grass Plugs (32 Count)

Best Cool-Season Grasses for a Drought-Tolerant Lawn

Tall Fescue

If you live too far north for warm-season grasses, fescues may be the best cool-season grass for a drought-tolerant lawn. Of the different varieties, tall fescue is the most highly recommended by experts.

David Caruso describes tall fescue as ‘the standout’ option among cool-season grasses. He adds: ‘Its roots run deeper than most cool-season grasses, so it keeps some green through a dry stretch that would brown out a finer lawn.’

‘Tall fescue is best for lots of sun and traffic, but can struggle with shade,’ adds Christian Lavender.

Tall fescue is a hugely popular cool-season grass that tolerates both hot and cold weather. It has dark green blades that create a coarser lawn than other grasses. This may not be to every homeowner’s tastes. The lawn does need regular mowing, but refrain from mowing too short – the best method is to cut to 2-3 inches.

It has the deepest roots of any cool-season grasses, which helps it cope with periods of drought. Tall fescue also produces less thatch than other alternatives, and doesn’t need regular dethatching.

Fine Fescue

As a viable alternative to tall fescue, David Caruso adds: ‘Fine fescue is worth considering too if you want something that genuinely needs less water day to day, though it won’t take heavy foot traffic the way tall fescue will.’

Fine fescue types include creeping red fescue, hard fescue, and chewings fescue. These dwarf cool-season grasses have thinner, needle-like blades that create a dense ornamental lawn.

They do offer a good level of drought tolerance, with their thin blades losing less water than wider ones, but do not have the same deep roots as tall fescue, so they don’t reach the same levels of tolerance.

Fine fescue commonly goes dormant during a heatwave, but it quickly recovers after rain or a watering. However, fescue lawns do stay greener for longer than other grasses.

Chrissie Handley from Online Turf recommends mixing fine fescues with other cool-season grasses, rather than relying on them alone to create a drought-tolerant lawn. She says: ‘Blending the types usually has better results, as you get the best of both worlds and an all-rounder, durable and drought-tolerant grass.’

Kentucky Bluegrass

Kentucky bluegrass is the first choice of grass for many homes in America. This is primarily because it gives the classic rich green color and fine texture that people think of when picturing a perfect lawn. It is often a go-to grass seed for overseeding, as it establishes quickly.

Kentucky bluegrass admittedly produces an attractive lawn, but it is finicky (it doesn’t like heat or shade), high maintenance, and does not offer the same level of drought tolerance as other cool-season grasses. It can cope with drought for up to a week before starting to turn brown, but does reliably recover when it gets moisture.

Newer varieties of Kentucky bluegrass have deeper roots, which help them perform better during periods of drought. Varieties such as ‘Midnight’ and ‘Granite’ offer improved tolerance to dry periods.

Alternatively, a good approach is to blend Kentucky bluegrass with tall fescue for a drought-tolerant lawn.

What to Shop

Kentucky Bluegrass and Tall Fescue Mix

Watering is usually part of a household’s summer lawn care routine. To keep your lawn hydrated, it is best to water the lawn for 20-30 minutes early in the morning so the water soaks into the soil and reaches the roots. Don’t just give it a light sprinkle, especially not in the middle of the day, as the water can be lost to evaporation before it benefits the grass.

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