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It's only been three weeks since the grass fully woke-up, but the "Emblem" front yard is progressing pretty well, with minimal seedhead issues. Color is not at peak yet, but I'm not complaining. Some spots still showing where I beat back the Poa Trivialis trying to invade from the beds and woods. As the photo makes evident, there is not a whole lot of sunshine, but the lawn makes the most of what it gets as I experiment with ways to improve shade tolerance. All visible "spots" on the lawn are dappled sunlight and not Tenacity/Certainty white spots.

Just beautiful!
Your Hosta's on the right sure pop in the shade.

Your Hosta's on the right sure pop in the shade.

Yeah, that's the "Bay Window Bed", under a 75-year old Red Japanese Maple. The Front of that bed is a mix of the Hosta "Patriot", and its genetic reverse Hosta "Loyalist" (someone had a sense of humor).

Niiiice.

Lookin' healthy. Nice.

Is that a humpback on the left? Love that color.

Very, very nice. So with emblem not around anymore do you patch (e.g., the triv spots you mention) with other seed or do you take some plugs from the emblem portion of the lawn?

andy10917 wrote: ↑

June 7th, 2020, 11:00 am

Your Hosta's on the right sure pop in the shade.

Yeah, that's the "Bay Window Bed", under a 75-year old Red Japanese Maple. The Front of that bed is a mix of the Hosta "Patriot", and its genetic reverse Hosta "Loyalist" (someone had a sense of humor).

I have the Hosta Loyalist (white centers with green edges). They are Descendants from my Grandmother's yard.
My mother (who would be 103 years old today) dug out the Hosta's from her mother's yard (who was in her 80's at the time) and planted them in her yard.
When I had my own home, I dug out a few of mom's Hosta's split them and planted them around an above ground pool in the 70's.
All these years later, I still have about 6 of them remaining because I gave them all away when I took down the pool and redid my gardens.
So the Hosta's original plants were at least 150 yrs. ago if not more.

I love the Patriot ones. Might look for those.

Is that a humpback on the left? Love that color.

To be honest, I dunno. It was given to me by a friend that was moving away. As it matures, I believe it is a Hosta "Humpback", but I'll never know for sure...

So with emblem not around anymore do you patch (e.g., the triv spots you mention) with other seed or do you take some plugs from the emblem portion of the lawn?

"Emblem" was derived from parents "P-105" and "NorthStar". They were from the "Aggressive" family, and I think it got a double-dose of Aggressive. So, it likes to invade beds and I do relocations, but anything under a foot-diameter hole I just ignore - it will get filled by itself.

I love the Patriot ones. Might look for those.

I have a mature one in a spot it likes. It's 20" high and 50" wide.

Dang Andy, that looks great! I always admire the climate diversity around here. Your grass is in the wakeup phase and mine is wanting to go dormant! Lawn looks fantastic.

PS: I'll bite, what are you doing to increase shade tolerance?

Looks great! What is the HOC in the pic? What HOC do you plan for July? Thanks.

Looking good.

Andy,

I never get sick of looking at the pictures of your lawn and landscaping!

I'll bite, what are you doing to increase shade tolerance?

It's a combo of things that I call HFAT, which I hope to take to final testing with a few members next year. Sorry, but no details being published yet.

What is the HOC in the pic? What HOC do you plan for July?

4" and 4". The "Emblem" cultivar absolutely loves the heat of July - I've never seen anything like it. It doesn't wake up until mid-May, and starts to get sleepy at around October 1st, but it shines in July.

Wow, beautiful!

Andy, have you found/is there a consensus on, other/similar KBG cultivars that love the heat of July like Emblem does?

You also mentioned above that it's an aggressive spreader so, likewise, is there something else you recommend that's an aggressive spreader?

Thank you.

Nice work. Love the color..

Great job, the contrast in color is amazing

andy10917 wrote: ↑

June 8th, 2020, 7:39 pm

I'll bite, what are you doing to increase shade tolerance?

It's a combo of things that I call HFAT, which I hope to take to final testing with a few members next year. Sorry, but no details being published yet.

What is the HOC in the pic? What HOC do you plan for July?

4" and 4". The "Emblem" cultivar absolutely loves the heat of July - I've never seen anything like it. It doesn't wake up until mid-May, and starts to get sleepy at around October 1st, but it shines in July.

What's the secret to minimize fungal pressure at a high cut in shady conditions?

I'm not sure what you're asking for. If it's "what is the HFAT regimen", It's not going to be published for another year yet. If you're asking "what can I do now?", I'd recommend the use of regularly-applied (natural) biofungicides (Serenade, etc) as a preventative.

What are you asking for?

Just asking what are your secrets to keep your nice and dense Emblem lawn from fungal pressure since you cut higher than most homeowners and have shady areas.