Why
is lawn seed sold as blends?
A lawn seed blend is
made up of several varieties of the same species. Seed varieties
are developed by breeders to meet certain characteristics
desired by the customer. In a perfect world, the breeder would
be able to combine all the good characteristics in the same
variety. But Mother Nature isn’t molded that easily. If a
variety excels in wear tolerance for instance, it might not be
as winter hardy. Or the fine blade cannot be combined with the
shade tolerance, etc. To give the customer a lawn seed that can
adapt to the various conditions of the home lawn, varieties with
different characteristics are combined: You need wear tolerance
because your kids will play on the lawn, or you are planning
that neighborhood barbeque; you need shade tolerance because
your back yard has a lot of trees; you want your lawn to be
resistant to disease, but not just to one, to any disease that
might attack your lawn; you want your lawn to be tolerant to the
summer heat but also to the cold winter days. Blending varieties
together that have top performance on some of the desired
characteristics, allows the lawn to adapt itself to the
conditions. In the shady areas, the varieties with good shade
tolerance will prevail, in the high traffic areas the best wear
tolerant varieties will prevail, etc. The result is a beautiful
lawn everywhere, from the same seed blend.
