Calendar · Chicago IL · Denver CO

Buffalo Grass care calendar for zone 5

Cold winter, mild-to-warm summer; the heart of the cool-season lawn belt. Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, fine fescue, and perennial rye all thrive. Spring green-up usually arrives by April; lawn is fully active May through mid-October.

Buffalo grass is the native short-grass-prairie species: the only warm-season grass that survives zone 4 winters, and the only low-input lawn grass adapted to the Great Plains. It's drought-tolerant, low-fertility, and naturally short (6–8 inches unmowed), but it doesn't take traffic well and goes dormant fast in cool weather.