Calendar · Minneapolis MN · Burlington VT

Tall Fescue care calendar for zone 4

Cold continental winter with a meaningful growing season April–October. Cool-season grasses dominate; buffalo grass viable in the western half (semi-arid). Snow mold is a real concern: last mow of the year should drop the lawn to 2–2.5 inches before the first hard freeze.

Tall fescue is the cool-season grass of the transition zone, deep-rooted, heat-tolerant for a cool-season species, and shade-tolerant. Modern turf-type tall fescue (TTTF) cultivars look much finer than the old K-31 pasture grass and dominate new lawn installs from Virginia to Kansas.