Tall Fescue
How should we consider plant diversity when designing roadside mixtures?
By Dominic Christensen
What is planted along roadside boulevards and how they are maintained is often a heavily debated subject. There are those who are more concerned about accomplishing the perceived primary goal to seed simpler nonnative mixtures to prevent erosion, and some who think the goals and functions of these boulevards should behave similar to a short-statured prairie, and others who are not so opinionated.
Videos
Weeds
- UMN Turf Science Top 10 Turf Weeds by former Turfgrass Extension Educator Maggie Reiter
- UMN Turf Science Glyphosate Alternatives by former Turfgrass Extension Educator Maggie Reiter
Spring Lawn Care
This webinar video was created in partnership with the Metropolitan Council and addresses several topics on how to care for your lawn in spring.
Springtime Lawn Care: Waking Up Your Lawn
Turfgrass aesthetics
By Ben Blackburn
There are many different factors that can influence the aesthetic value of a lawn. Color, texture, and shape have an impact on how people see and interact with a given turf space. There has been a lot of research done on the relationship between the aesthetic value of a space and how humans perceive and react to the space. Findings show that certain aesthetics can evoke many different emotions in people, as well as increased energy and mental health. These results are particularly interesting because the subjects often were affected subliminally and were not always aware that it was happening.
Making roadsides greener by selecting salt tolerant turfgrasses
By Michael Laskowski
Have you ever wondered where all the salt goes after the snow and ice melts from the roadsides and sidewalks? It turns out, most of the salt runs into the storm drain, but some salt will end up along the roadsides and boulevards in green areas.
Seeding your lawn this fall? Here are some considerations (Part 2 of 2)
By Sam Bauer
Previously I wrote about the different renovation options for fall seeding of lawns and about the various attributes of cool-season lawn grasses. This week I wanted to discuss the mixtures and blends of grass seed that are on the consumer marketplace. If you’ve ever walked into your local big box store or garden center looking for grass seed, the different products available can be fairly intimidating. To be honest, I often have a difficult time finding the right mixture, because it only takes one bad ingredient to produce a poor quality lawn. With that in mind, let’s take a look at several categories of grass seed mixtures that are available to you.
Dandelions and tall fescue don’t mix. Literally. (Dr. Doug Soldat)
Below is a re-post from Dr. Doug Soldat at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. We are recommending tall fescue more and more for use in home lawn situations. This may be another added benefit: