New Heat- And Drought-Tolerant Bluegrass Available

Southern contractors now have a new option for yearlong green turf.

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For more information about Reveille, a cross of Kentucky bluegrass with Texas native bluegrass, contact Gardner Turfgrass Inc. at 303/252-1900 or visit www.gardnerturf.com.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Southern contractors who have avoided installing Kentucky bluegrass lawns because of their low survival rate in summer heat, may now have a way to provide the type of lawn many customers prefer with yearlong green turf. Reveille, a cross of Kentucky bluegrass with Texas native bluegrass, has been developed by Dr. James Read, Texas A&M grass breeder and geneticist in Dallas, Texas. The result is a turf that looks like Kentucky bluegrass but acts like Texas bluegrass - hardy enough to stand the South's heat and sun.

"Even more important than its looking like a Kentucky horse farm, it stays green all year long, in warm season climates," said Read. "Reveille showed heat tolerance, low water use and good insect and disease resistance, but most of all, it stays green winter and summer."

Read noted that only extraordinary circumstances, like prolonged drought or a sudden hard freeze when grass is actively growing, would make it temporarily lose color. "In either situation it recovers and doesn't go dormant even in these extreme conditions. Commercial areas and corporate complexes could find this very attractive and might even lower their landscape maintenance costs," he said

Dr. James McAfee, Texas Agricultural Extension Service turfgrass specialist, agreed. "So many people want a green lawn all year," he said. "Their only choice up to now was overseeding with ryegrass in winter to maintain the aesthetics of a green lawn around the complex. We don't know costs of this new turf yet, but anything that reduces labor should be beneficial. And it's much less labor intensive to maintain the same turf than converting back and forth as seasons change.

"This great new bluegrass provides year-round green lawn without all the complicating factors," continued McAfee. "It may never replace Bermuda and St. Augustine as the basic turf in this area, but it certainly has a much-needed use we haven't had before."

Read admitted to drawing on his Texas A&M roots when he chose Reveille as the trade name for this new cool-season grass he developed at the Texas A&M Agricultural Research Center in Dallas after 12 years of research and trials. He made the successful cross in 1990.

Adapted from Canadian plains to the desert southwest, the grass "needs good drainage - doesn't like wet feet - but doesn't mind the hot sun," said Read. "Another advantage is that it can be started any time, except for the coldest part of winter when the ground is frozen."

Reveille only needs mowing about once a month in the winter. "That's not bad when your lawn stays green all year and you don't have to contend with dead, dry grass in cold weather. It's a slow grower and produces a seed head only in the spring," he said.

"Growers are now establishing sod fields, and Reveille will be available as sod late this year - but in very limited quantities," warned Read. "We need another year to produce enough sod to supply consumers. Licensed growers who must protect the sod from contamination will have larger quantities available for sale in the near future."

Reveille will be marketed as a certified sod that assures the buyer of the qualities developed by Read. His research was funded in part by Gardner Turfgrass Inc.

Read joined the Dallas agricultural research facility in 1974 and has concentrated on cool-season grasses for forage. During that time, he studied a world collection of tall fescues looking for a cool-season grass suitable for Texas conditions. In the late 1980s, he turned to the native grasses and found the Texas bluegrass to be most promising. "It was evident almost immediately that these native bluegrasses also had turf potential," said Read. "When we found the best cross, we had Reveille - a pretty nice wake-up call."

The research was funded in part by Gardner Turfgrass, which has the worldwide rights to the grass. The company is licensing growers throughout the South and transition zone. Reveille is currently available in limited quantities in Arizona and El Paso, Texas. It will be available later this year in Dallas, San Antonio, and Albuquerque. Other locations coming online next year are in North Carolina, Georgia, Colorado, Utah and possibly Missouri and Illinois. There is no seed available at this time but there will be limited quantities in the fall for special projects only.