20 Best Lawn Seed For Shade (2023 Updated)

I live in a NC climate where temperatures are relatively mild but still swing from below freezing to very hot and humid. This seed mix was planted in early April when temps were still cooler but rain seemed to be plentiful.

I was excited this product was a combination seed plus fertilizer so application was as easy possible for the user. I use a hand-held spreader, and it took less than twenty minutes to spread in my preferred areas, including a few bare spots within my lawn.

I also followed other instructions closely including preparation and additional care tips. After a few nicely warmer temperature days thereafter, I was eagerly anticipating the results. Package says results can be seen in 8 – 21 days.

Today is day 21 exactly and there is little to no noticeable growth at best. Even though I kept seeds damp, there was not much activity or growth. As a comparison, I planted two other seed brands at the time and using the same process (in other areas of my lawn so I could more easily tell them apart) and those began to germinate nicely almost right away.

Unfortunately this Pennington Smart Seed mix did not offer similarly successful results. I remain hopeful that seeds will still germinate nicely as the season continues. I received this product for free for the purpose of my review, but all opinions are completely my own.

This bag of pretty blue grass seeds was really expensive, but I thought I would try it because it has fertilizer with it already. Sweet, right? I have used this six or eight times on the bad spots on my lawn.

The sprinklers run every night so it stays moist. It has been a couple of months and the little blue seeds are still sitting in the dirt where I sprinkled them. Not one of those little blue seeds has sprouted, so I wasted forty-something dollars FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! I don’t know if I got a bad of dead seeds or what but this stuff is a HUGE WASTE OF MONEY!!!!.

I had part of my back yard torn apart because of utility work and need to repair it to bring it back to the way it was. This bag of Scotts Rapid Grass Sun and Shade mix arrived just in time. Instructions on the back of the bag couldn’t be any clearer.

Simple and precise instructions, when followed will give optimum results! There is also a guide to let you know what setting to use depending on the kind of spreader you operate. I have tried other brands and wound up with more weeds then lawn whenever I needed to patch up a spot.

Then I started using Scotts brand and never looked back. I have been using Scotts products for over 10 years now as they have never let me down and this product is no different! Watering twice a day and mowing to the correct height of 2-3 inches will have my lawn looking fantastic in no time!! Quality product and recommend you give it a try whenever you need to repair or start a new lawn.

You will be very pleased with the results!!.

Best grass seed I’ve ever tried. Excellent results in sunny areas; and pretty good results in dense shade. Fast germination. Very drought and heat tolerant. Contains Texas Bluegrass which self-repairs bare spots.

Perfect for difficult conditions in that dreaded “Transition” zone. For a detailed diary of my experiment, search YouTube: SOLAR GREEN grass seed by David Deutscher.

This product is incredible!!! I will never use any other grass seed again. I removed dead grass and weeds, added fresh soil and sprinkled seed down. Watered as recommenced and within 1 week I had beautiful green grass and I could not be more pleased! It was recommended to me by one of the knowledgeable staff from Aubuchon Hardware, Beverly, MA.

Greenview Fairway Formula’s, Kentucky Bluegrass blend is their most popular blend of grass seed. It’s 99. 9% weed free. No coating or fillers like many other brands so you get more seed per pound. More pure seed equals more lawn coverage.

I tried other lawn patch varieties that just didn’t work as well because the filler blows away or disintegrates and the grass grows sparsely. This pure grass seed gives you even, equal coverage. It covers more area of lawn because you have more seed per pound.

I grew this in a pot because of the wintery weather conditions we had. It grew in less than 2 weeks time, once planted indoors. I plan to transfer the patch after it reaches a few inches. This grew quickly once it had above freezing temperatures.

It has a nice bright green color to brighten and enhance the look of your lawn. It’s great for filling in sparce looking lawns or filling in bare patches. This would be ideal for new lawns because it covers well and is weed free.

It’s also drought and disease resistant. I would recommend this grass seed if you value a nice looking lawn.

This Fairway Formula Perennial Rye-grass Blend by Greenview is an excellent choice. This Rye grass blend is perfect for the patchy areas in my back yard. I also used it to over seed a few areas near my walkway and driveway that tend to get damaged due to being high traffic areas.

This is the most beautiful package of clean seeds I have ever seen. There is absolutely no fillers, no clumping, no dirt or dust, or any debris in this bag. It is the cleanest, most uniform package of grass seeds I’ve come across.

It’s been about 2 weeks and I definitely see improvement in my lawns fullness. Since these are pure, uncoated seeds, I seeded the lawn right before it rained for two days. I am happy with my results and think this is an excellent choice for over seeding lawns.

I highly recommended this Fairway Formula Perennial Rye-grass Blend by Greenview.

Great to have instructions in the package and happy to see that in a week my grass looked already greener and some empty spots were at least partially filled. One has to say that end september is not the best time to plant new seeds, but i wanted to have fuller grass before the winter arrived and i can say it was a success.

Fast growing, lively look in our garden.

TranslateShow in original languageNu 3 weken geleden dit graszaad gebruikt om door te zaaien. Vooraf goed geverticuteerd, herfstmeststof toegediend en vervolgens doorgezaaid. Zaad goed aangedrukt met de grond en de afgelopen weken het zaad nat gehouden of door regen of gesproeid.

Helaas vrijwel geen resultaat zichtbaar. De meeste zaadjes hebben tot nu toe niets gedaan andere zaadjes hebben enkel een miniscuul klein wit worteltje gevormd. Misschien niet de perfecte omstandigheden geweest om dit type graszaad nu te gebruiken? In het voorjaar nog maar een kans geven om de kale plekken weer vol te krijgen.

This grass just plain works. I had overseeded my yard in September with the regular Black Magic and had great results. In october I wanted to spot fill a few more areas and opted for the Fall Magic. I admittingly waited too long and finally threw this seed down in late October, not expecting much given the weather.

We proceeded to get snow here in the Northeast, preceded and followed by multiple nights of temps at 32 or below (frost). Surprisingly the grass still sprouted and is coming along very well with minimal watering and only some nice weather the last few days.

If you cant get this grass to grow, then you are doing something major wrong.

Wow. Growing fast and everywhere. Fresh soil and old clay. Hopefully it holds up to winter and next summer but first week has proven to be impressive. Ace had a good price and inventory

Grass seed is hard to review because a lot of the success of the seed depends on how well it was applied by the homeowner and it what conditions. I made two mistakes that by sharing, hopefully others might avoid.

First mistake was not checking the upcoming weather. Using a handheld spreader, I applied seeds to all four of my existing lawns. Two of them are large, the other two are smaller. They are very patchy so I decided to seed the entire lawn and focus a little more on the patchy areas.

I used the entire contents of the 7lb bag. Problem was, that night and for the next 3 days, it rained like crazy and I had streams of new seed draining from my lawns. I had no way of knowing how much or little still remained.

A couple of weeks later, I tried again. I applied another 7lb bag to all four of my existing lawns. Followed the directions on the bag to a T. And two weeks later, I have sprouts in the bare areas that I went heavier on.

I can’t really tell if it’s coming through the existing lawn yet but I have no doubt it will too. The only suggestion I have (and mistake number two) is to not spread the seeds when it’s breezy. The seeds are so fine and light, that many blew away in the wind when spreading them.

I waited several weeks to review this product as I really wanted to see how it’d work and if the results were worth the effort. So far I can definitely say that grass is growing and it looks great! I was pretty shocked at how well this actually worked! I also want to comment on the packaging — super high quality, easy to understand, and unlike other brands this feels very safe for my family and pets.

This is modern product design done super well for a chore that not all of us enjoy! The mix was easy to spread and by following some very easy instructions I quickly saw results. The grass seems hardy and like it will hold up well.

Very high quality! I’d recommend this product to anyone who wants a modern approach to lawn care and those who need peace of mind that their family is protected. Highly recommend!.

We needed some to add some grass need our pond and love the look of tall fescue! This product arrived so nicely packaged in a secure box. The seeds bags provide instructions for planting which is easy and pretty self explanatory.

We made sure our soil was prepared and distributed the seed as suggested. It’s only been 2 weeks since our planting so we are waiting for results! Unfortunately we have been in a bit of a drought so we are hand watering when we are able but this grass is suppose to handle the heat and drought that we often have in Texas.

We were able to cover a huge area of ground with a 7lb bag-we used 2 bags for all our ground where it is needed. We look forward to seeing the results in the weeks to come!.

After failing on few attempts with popular brand of lawn seeds, started looking for alternates. This one had an excellent review and price was reasonable. Hence gave it a shot. Prepared the soil bed, spread the seeds and then spread a thin coat (about 1 inch) of soil and water it.

If the weather is right I got results as early as 3days. That’s awesome for me. Would definitely recommend this. Try it out.

I pulled weeds….prepped the soil as instructed. Watered too. It germinated in five days. Wow!! The birds didn’t bother the seeds. See pics

I have a Sunny & Shaded lawn and I buy this grass seed every year for the past few years. I was buying Scott’s bc it’s so popular but this seed beat’s that brand hands down!!! My grass comes in so thick & green it’s unbelievable!!.

It is 92% annual ryegrass. I wish the description would have said what types of grass it contained. It’s 92% annual ryegrass and 5. 5% solstice intermediate ryegrass. The only thing I could find on Solstice intermediate ryegrass is that it is a hybrid of annual and perennial ryegrass.

But, this grass only contains 5. 5% of that. My experience is that the grass germinated pretty quickly but soon dried up and died. Even areas that had been growing for a few months dried up as soon as the weather got hot.

I would not recommend this seed. It might be okay in cooler climates. Even areas that have shade in the afternoon died. Keep in mind most of the seed is annual rye, which will only last one growing season.

This seed worked great for all of the new landscaping that I did and also on some area’s that I haven’t had grass growing in years! Some hard surface dirt so I wet the area’s down really well and seeded it, have really nice grass growing in those areas after about 2 weeks! The newer dirt was within a week!.

Was beyond expectation. Used in very dense shade and the germination was great. Fast growing. Highly recommended.

This is the fastest germinating grass seed I have ever planted. It is thick and bright green. I am ordering more for more area’s of my yard.

Just tried this dense shade area of my back yard and I need to wait and see what comes up. I hope this works as I have tried everything in the past.

Worked better than I expected- sprouted within 10 days and growing great under the maple tree.

This grass seed worked great! I used a tiller on the yard to prep. Got up all the old grass and weeds, then added a layer of topsoil. Added fertilizer and a bag of the tall fescue seeds. Then did a layer of straw to protect the seeds.

Came up great and looks great!!! Five stars. This was in a area without full sun. Lots of very tall trees along the side of the yard.

I purchased two bags of these grass seeds and followed instructions to the letter, who would not consider the cost (overpriced and over-rated). Sent pictures to show the results which were awful. I requested a guaranteed refund.

The seller refused to issue a refund (asked that I return the product, knowing that I planted the grass seed. Who does that? Perhaps the grass seed was outdated. One thing is certain, the seed did not perform as stated.

Poor Customer Care.

I have been trying to grow grass in my shady yard for many years. The manager of a local lawn company recommended that I stop using his seeds (that are made for sun and shade) and change to dense shade seeds.

I did — and am so excited over the Jonathan Green dense shade grass that is coming up all over my lawn.

I planted Black Beauty sun and shade in the spring. I was not impressed on how it can up. I may have got half of it to come up. It also took a very long time to germinate. The front and the side came up.

Nothing in the back or the other side. I dethached and aerated too. I bought 7 bags. So I’m going to give this grass seed a satisfactory rating.

I bought a 10 lb bag of the choice shade mix and seeded the area between my house and my neighbors house. It’s covered by a huge oak tree and gets very little sun during the day. I tilled up the area, spread some 16-04-08 lawn and pasture fertilizer, and spread the seed.

I spread the seed by hand and covered about an 800 sq ft area pretty evenly. I watered twice a day. After only 9 days, the area is almost completely covered with very few thin spots. It’ll be ready to mow in no time.

I’m very pleased with the results. This area has never grown any grass very well. I ordered an additional 10 lb bag for the thin areas and to overseed this fall.

I spread the seed over an area that gets very little sun in early spring. I did not do any thing special such as regular watering to help it. We have had substantial rain fall and cool weather. It appears most of the seed has sprouted and the grass looks healthy.

I have seeded this area many times with different brands of seed, they always initially sprout but then fail to come back the next year. So I cannot give a final rating on the seed but will see what happens in the future.

Initially it looks good.

having a hard time getting this seed to germinate. Put down “starter fertilizer” before sowing the seed and watered everyday for the first 10 days. Only about 10-20 % of the seed has sprouted. a little disappointed.

Sowed the seed as per instructions over a Wickes own topsoil. We needed 30 bags of topsoil and 2 boxes of seeds for 20m2 lawn and it is growing well. *Water well- really well- if it’s a dry spell of weather.

Morning and evenings worked well for ours. Seeded in April. Overall, really happy with the products and how the lawn is now establishing. Also a bonus- the birds didn’t bother too much with the seed so didn’t have to rig up anything to keep them away.

Once growing and established this is a nice lawn. However it took a lot longer to sprout than I expected. Sown in top soil, watered in initially, but then we had a real mixed bag of sunny and rainy days (mid to late April).

I would say perfect weather for grass growing. But it was almost 3 weeks before I saw any sign of growth. It had to be over sown as the pigeons gorged themselves on it. 3 stars is for the eventual quality of grass that has grown.

The grass appears with 8-14, not 4 days even in optimum conditions but the grass is really lush, very green, quite fine yet tough. Now I will not sow anything else. Fabulous results. Even a late sowing on one large patch last November (didn’t expect success) has produced superb results and this large patch was fantastic by March.

I have several lawns in my garden that cover a very large area and, bit by bit, I am re-sowing great swathes with excellent results. Exceeds expectations.

I planted the seed according to the directions on the package. I did not put down fertilizer with the seed since the directions discouraged this as perhaps negatively impacting the germination. I watered it diligently to keep the seed bed moist and I was very careful to make sure that the seed had adequate contact with the soil as I always do.

This is the worst outcome I have ever had with grass seed. I’ve always had germination in the past with other seeds. so disappointed, a big waste of money and effort!.

I had not used this before but it had very good reviews. I sowed it about ten days ago in early October and shoots appeared after a week. It is now growing well and hopefully, with regular watering every two days should be ok for the winter.

I watered the grass seek twice a day for 2 weeks, yet there is no grass. Am I unlucky or the grass seek was bad.

Quality seed. Arrived in good time. Useful instructions