The grasses that perform best in Houston’s blistering climate are St. Augustinegrass, Bermudagrass, and centipedegrass. Zoysia has also gained popularity as a premium option for those seeking luxury turf, and ryegrass remains the go-to choice for winter overseeding to maintain year-round color.
Each has strengths and weaknesses, however, ranging from its ability to handle drought and shade to how well they stand up under heavy use.
Pick Your Houston Grass Type
Which grass is best for you? That depends on things like how much sun it gets, how much foot traffic it has to endure, and how much work you want to put into it.
Plug in your preferences here, and we’ll tell you the grass type you should consider. Then read more about them below.
Grass Match Calculator for Houston
Your Personalized Recommendations
1. St. Augustinegrass: Most Popular
St. Augustinegrass offers a great blend of positive traits: it thrives in Houston’s high heat and humidity, is attractive, and stands up reasonably well, but not great, to foot traffic. With its thick, dark green color and broad, leafy texture, it also handles shade better than many other warm-season grasses.
However, Houston’s subtropical climate creates perfect conditions for pests and fungal problems. St. Augustine is particularly prone to brown patch disease and chinch bugs here in the muggy summer months. It also needs a good bit of water to perform its best, more so than other grasses.
- Foot Traffic Tolerance: Low to moderate
- Mowing Height: 2.5 to 4 inches
- Potential for Disease: Moderate to high; susceptible to brown patch and chinch bugs.
See Related:
- How to Care for St. Augustinegrass
- Best Fertilizers for St. Augustinegrass
- How to Get Rid of Chinch Bugs on the Lawn
2. Bermudagrass: Most Durable
Bermudagrass is Houston’s workhorse grass, offering excellent drought and heat tolerance once established. It naturally resists diseases, is dense, and handles heavy foot traffic well, making it a good choice for homes with kids, pets, or backyard entertaining.
Bermudagrass needs full sun to thrive, so it’s not the best choice if your lawn has a lot of shade. It also grows fast and is a bit needy, so it will keep your weekend dance card full with mowing, fertilizing, and aerating.
- Foot Traffic Tolerance: High
- Mowing Height: 1 to 2 inches
- Potential for Disease: Low, naturally disease resistant
See Related:
- Best Fertilizers for Bermudagrass
- Bermudagrass Guide: Types, Traits, and Care
- How to Keep Bermudagrass Out of Flower Beds
3. Zoysiagrass: Premium Choice
Creating the thickest, most luxurious texture of all warm-season grasses, Zoysiagrass is Houston’s premium lawn option. With fine, dense blades and rich emerald color, Zoysiagrass thrives in both full sun and partial shade, offering excellent heat tolerance and drought resistance once established.
However, Zoysia is the most expensive option and requires patience. It can take 2 to 3 years to fill in completely from plugs or sod, and it’s slow to recover from damage, making it less forgiving than other grass types.
Zoysia is best installed as sod rather than plugs in Houston’s climate, but the investment pays off with a low-maintenance, gorgeous lawn once established.
- Foot Traffic Tolerance: High; slow to recover from damage
- Mowing Height: 0.5 to 2 inches
- Potential for Disease: Very low; naturally disease resistant.
See Related:
- Growing Zoysiagrass: Everything You Need to Know
- How and When to Fertilize Zoysiagrass
- How Much Water Does Zoysiagrass Need?
4. Centipedegrass: Low Maintenance, But a Bit Fragile
Creepy name, great grass. Centipede is East Texas’s low-maintenance lawn star. It’s perfectly adapted to Houston’s acidic clay soils and often grows best when ignored. With its medium-green color and coarse texture, it creates a resilient, low-growing turf that withstands heat and partial shade well.
Centipede won’t tolerate heavy foot traffic and browns out easily under stress. It can’t handle salt from softened or reclaimed water, but a rainwater collection system can help you get around that. Chinch bugs, mole crickets, and ground pearls are common pests for this turf.
- Foot Traffic Tolerance: Poor
- Mowing Height: 1.5 to 2 inches
- Potential for Disease: Low to moderate; susceptible to large patches in humid conditions.
- Note: Over-fertilizing is one of the quickest ways to kill this grass and makes it vulnerable to lawn disease.
See Related:
- Centipedegrass Lawn Maintenance Guide
- How Much Water Does Centipedegrass Need?
- How and When to Fertilize Centipedegrass
5. Seashore Paspalum: Specialty Grass
Houston’s salt-tolerant specialist, it’s the only grass that actually thrives in coastal conditions and salty water while handling brutal heat better than most options. With fine, dense texture and vibrant green color, it creates golf course-quality turf.
You knew this was coming, but seashore paspalum is expensive and high-maintenance. It has to be professionally installed, mowed every 3 days during the growing season, and is very sensitive to fertilizer and water routines, which is why you’ll find it more on the golf course than on lawns.
Seashore Paspalum works best for fields, golf courses, and high-end lawns where salty water is a problem. Consider it for special projects like a personal putting green in the backyard.
- Foot Traffic Tolerance: Excellent
- Mowing Height: 1 inch or less
- Potential for Disease: Very low, naturally disease resistant
See Related:
Only For Winter Overseeding: Ryegrass
The only cool-season turf on our list, ryegrass is good for overseeding your lawn to maintain a green appearance when warm-season grasses go dormant. Well-suited for Houston’s mild winters, ryegrass creates a lush, vibrant green carpet when other lawns turn dull and brown.
Ryegrass is strictly a temporary fix that dies in Houston’s summer heat. It requires reseeding every fall and adds to your maintenance schedule rather than reducing it, but if you’re passionate about a green lawn all year round, ryegrass is your new friend.
- Foot Traffic Tolerance: Good during the growing season
- Mowing Height: Match the underlying grass height
- Potential for Disease: Moderate in humid conditions
- Pro Tip: Overseed with ryegrass in October or November before the first frost. If you overseed too early, it won’t grow. Wait too long, and it won’t have time to get settled before cold weather hits.
Related reading:
- Guide to Growing Perennial Ryegrass
- Dormant Grass vs. Dead Grass
- How to Winterize Your Southern Lawn
Comparing the Best Houston Grass Types
St. Augustine
| Pros | Cons |
| Fast-growing, thick grass | Needs to be well watered |
| Thrives in shade | Requires frequent mowing |
| Holds up in drought | Doesn’t stand up well in busy yards |
| Tolerates salt air near coast | Susceptible to diseases |
| Establishes, recovers quickly | Susceptible to pest damage |
Zoysiagrass
| Pros | Cons |
| Attractive golf course look | Establishes slowly |
| Soft under foot | Recovers slowly when damaged |
| Thick, crowds out weeds | Turns brown in drought |
| Handles foot traffic well | Fairly expensive sod |
| Moderate shade tolerance | Prone to thatch buildup |
Centipedegrass
| Pros | Cons |
| Low maintenance | Establishes slowly |
| Minimal fertilization | Damages easily, not good for busy yards |
| Grows in poor, sandy soils | Doesn’t handle salt air well |
| Grows slowly; needs less mowing | Damages easily from overfertilization |
| Resists bugs and diseases |
Bermudagrass
| Pros | Cons |
| Soft grass, comfortable for walking | Doesn’t handle cold well; goes dormant |
| Handles drought | Needs frequent mowing |
| Tolerates salt air; good for coast | Doesn’t like shade |
| Thrives in full sun | Spreads aggressively to flower beds |
| Requires just moderate watering | Develops thatch |
Seashore Paspalum
| Pros | Cons |
| Excellent salt tolerance | Require professional installation |
| High heat tolerance | Very high maintenance |
| Golf course-quality appearance | Expensive to establish and maintain |
| Great foot traffic tolerance | Special project only for home lawns |
Make Lawn Care Easy: Hire a Houston Lawn Care Pro
Choosing the right grass type is just the beginning. For a beautiful, healthy lawn, consider hiring one of LawnStarter’s Houston lawn care professionals. Our local pros understand Houston’s unique climate challenges and can keep your lawn looking its best year-round.
We serve Houston and surrounding areas, including The Woodlands, Sugar Land, Pearland, and Katy. Our professionals handle mowing, edging, trimming, and debris removal on every visit, taking lawn care off your to-do list.
Main Image: Illustration by Whitney Lehnecker / LawnStarter; Adobe Stock photos
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