I live in North Texas and first year in this area and in a new house (new lawn) . Bermuda as expected is struggling in the area between my house and neighbor house. The distance between the homes is around 8 to 10 ft and both are 2 story. Because of this there is basically little sun for the Bermuda to see. I am looking for a grass type that can handle the shade and won't take over the rest of my Bermuda lawn. My first thought was a different type of Bermuda or maybe a slow growing zoysia for this small area. I do not care for st Augustine and would worry that it would take over eventually.

Replacing with gravel may not be an option and I would need to verify in the HOA book but I think I would violate the HOA bylaws by replacing it with gravel since I can't fence that area in

fescue

If you are getting almost no sun, then even St. Augustine will not be successful there.

There is not a variety of zoysia or bermuda that is as shade tolerant as St. Aug.

As posted above, you may try and give fescue a shot. I have found that it burns up in the heat of the summer, though.

Centipede Grass may be an option.

Zoysia is not as shade strong as St Augustine but can do very well with 50% shade during the day. A&M actually sodded zoysia under the century tree on campus and it works well.

There are numerous sites around Denton (I know of a handful of city building that have it) that have successfully grown Fescue year-round. The downside is it will require about 20% more water than your typical warm season grasses during the summer time.

do a flower bed there with something shade tolerant. Monkey grass grows in shade but spreads like crazy after a couple of years.

If you don't like St. Augustine, Zeon or Zorro Zoysia are pretty dang good in shade & a close second.

When I encounter tight lot lines lines that w/two story houses, I usually recommend gravel.
Search your HOA rules on this, if it is too shady for grass you could submit a request for a variance.

AgySkeet06 said:

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Zoysia is not as shade strong as St Augustine but can do very well with 50% shade during the day. A&M actually sodded zoysia under the century tree on campus and it works well.

There are numerous sites around Denton (I know of a handful of city building that have it) that have successfully grown Fescue year-round. The downside is it will require about 20% more water than your typical warm season grasses during the summer time.

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I actually live in Denton. My Fescue is pretty burned up right now, but that could very well be that I am not watering it any more than my St. Aug. its just in two areas of my yard that are pretty densely shaded.

Trinity Zoysia, Jamur Zoysia, or Palmetto St. Augustine are all good options for moderate shade. Filtered sunlight or at least 3 hrs of direct sunlight should be enough to maintain a decent canopy density. Alternatively, Seashore Paspallum can be effective unless the area gets regular traffic i.e. kids/ dogs, etc.

I'm actually watering St Augustine at 40-50% of current ETo rates even though the text recommends 60% for maximum quality and it is nice and green. All cool season grasses should be watered currently at 80% of ETo Rates

Fescue

Amerishade St. Augustine, it'll work in extreme shade. King Ranch Turf has it.

I would give zeon or zorro a try first. It will blend the best with Bermuda. Any other grass is going to be painfully obvious that you have 2 varieties.

Rocks

green rocks. They'll never notice

There is an add on this thread to the right for "synthetic grass store". Maybe you should try that!

Living in north Texas you are in the backyard of the Godfather of Gardening, Neil Sperry. If you have any questions you can call and talk to him on 820 am radio WBAP on Sunday between 8-10. Here is a good article written by him regarding your problem. He also has a website that is full of info. Hope this helps.

https://neilsperry.com/2018/02/grass-wont-grow-shade/

I finally resorted to monkeygrass in a heavily shaded part of my backyard. It's doing well, but I sprigged it and it's not spreading quite as fast as I'd like.

samsal75 said:

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Centipede Grass may be an option.

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Centipede needs a fair amount of sun.

Click on the link posted by buddybee. No turf will grow unless it gets a minimum of 4 or 5 hours of sun. There are no exceptions. Find a suitable ground cover.

Got tired of trying to get grass to grow in my small shaded yard and I put in synthetic turf. Couldn't be happier with the results. Just have to rake once or twice in the fall when the nearby trees drop their leaves.