The Best North Carolina Lawn Grass

• Except in the mountains, cool-season lawns turn brown in the Carolina summers. ULTRA.F/Digital Vision/Getty Images

  North Carolina is in the "transitional zone" when discussing and growing various turfgrasses for residential or athletic field lawns. The state is too far north to grow all warm-season lawn grasses well, but endures long, hot summers that cause most cool-season grasses to fizzle out. Depending on your location in the state, certain lawn grasses fare better based on the temperatures across the seasons. All lawns grow and look their best in sunny locales in a fertile soil that is moist but well-drained, regardless of location in the Tarheel State.

Western Mountains

• In far western North Carolina where the southern Appalachians create rolling foothills and the highest elevations in the state, cool-season grasses make the best lawn choice. The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDACS) mentions that bluegrass and tall fescue are most widely grown. Only in extreme summer heat or dry conditions do cool-season lawns in western counties begin to brown and go temporarily dormant. Seed blends of fescue and bluegrass create good lawns, too, since growing conditions allow one species to prosper if the other is seasonally affected by temperature, insect or other challenge.

Piedmont

• The North Carolina Piedmont comprises the often clay-soil midlands between the mountains and the coast. The lower elevations result in long, hot summers but chilly winters that support the cultivation of both cool-season grasses and the hardiest warm-season types. Gardeners who choose to grow cool-season grasses in the Piedmont realize that in summer heat and drought, additional irrigation is needed to keep the lawn green and looking lush. Alternatively, growing a warm-season grass like zoysia grass or Bermuda grass is easy in the warm of late spring to early fall, but the turf turns thatch brown and dormant over winter and early spring. Warm-season grasses make better lawns in the Piedmont overall, since they cope with the typical hot and seasonal dry-spells across summer in North Carolina, according to NCDACS. Cool-season grass seed sown in fall brings temporary greenness to warm-season lawns that rest dormant.

Coastal Plain

• In eastern North Carolina, sandy soils and milder winters abound, making it an ideal area for growing warm season grasses, according to Bob Polomski, author of "Month-by-Month Gardening in the Carolinas." Choose from Bermuda grass, centipede grass or zoysia grass. In the far southeastern part of North Carolina near Wilmington, Charleston/St. Augustine grass needs consideration. NCDACS recommends only using tall fescue in eastern North Carolina, and then only in the cooler inland areas on the edge of the Piedmont.