Battled HARD over this decision this past summer when doing a backyard renovation of my half-dead Bermuda lawn. I hate St. Augustine with a passion, so the biggest knock of Palisades to me was that it was a wider blade....and even though it doesn't look exactly like St. Augustine, it definitely resembles it.

I wanted a finer blade grass (like TIF419 Bermuda), but also needed to make sure whatever I got could tolerate some shade. My Bermuda started to thin out in certain areas. A couple sod companies told me that both Zeon and Palisades can handle 3-4 hours of sun a day, it's just matter of preference as to feel and appearance of the grass blades.

Extremely happy with Zeon though. I installed 4 pallets in late June and worked hard in the stupid scorching DFW summer to keep it watered enough so it could root properly. This can be mowed with a rotary at 2.5 to 3.5" for a more carpet appearance or with a reel mower at a very low HOC that could mimic a putting green. My wife prefers the carpet height and feel, so I mowed it at about 2 to 2.5" with a rotary. Hard to explain the beautiful color it has and it's incredibly dense grass. I'll have to watch out and manage for thatch and disease, but when you see it in person you'll understand why Zoysia is so naturally resistant to weeds. Amazingly dense grass.

Look forward to playing around with a striping kit on the mower this next summer. Not putting any pre-emergent on it for a full year to make sure the roots are mature.

Here is what it looked like first week of September (little over 2 months after sodding):