Master Gardener Walter Reeves reports St. Augustine grass is becoming more popular in Atlanta. He mentioned a “Raleigh” variation that is supposed to be more cold tolerant.
Raleigh St. Augustine grass was released by the North Carolina Experiment Station in 1980 as a cold tolerant, SAD resistant strain. Raleigh is finer textured than Floratam and develops a dense turf much like the Texas Common strain of St. Augustine grass. Raleigh is also more shade tolerant than Floratam. But, unlike Floratam, Raleigh is not resistant to lawn chinch bugs.
I hate st. augistine grass. Its hard and itchy. Bermuda grass is so soft and nice..