Jonathan Green Black Beauty Tall Fescue Grass Seed Blend - 25 lb

Best grass seed I've tried. Very green. Germinated quickly. No weeds.

Good quality seeds that only took 7 days to sprout

I just like to say that I’ve been using this seed for about 78 years and I really like it. It feels good in the fall and really green in the summer. The only bad thing is it may take a few days longer to germinate than other seeds, but for the quality of seeds, I think it’s worth it.

My backyard was a total loss. I blamed it on going all organic. I planted 25 lbs. of the Original Jonathan Green last Wednesday August 19th with starter fertilizer. We had quite a bit of rain on and off for a couple of days with temps in the upper 70s to low 80s. Today just 5 days later I have sprouts of grass all over. So far I'm very happy.

I planted 50 pounds of seed in a relatively large area last fall. The soil is gently sloping, facing south, and pretty sandy. We get occasional pickup traffic through the bottom portion of what is seeded. I'm in zone 7a (maybe 7b now?) The city destroyed my yard doing some "easement" work (which means they can break whatever they feel like and then fight with the homeowners and lowball repair estimates for repair work. They offered me $3,000 and I had a quote from a landscaper for $14,000. For anyone reading this, stick to your guns rather than accepting their first offer. It took over a year to get a fair resolution, but we did eventually get at least a decent compensation package). They finally finished what they were doing last summer so it was time to get my yard back. Part of the agreement I made with them was that they needed to truck in new topsoil and level everything (mine mostly got pushed into a canyon during their project). I was assured it was "nice" topsoil - immediately debunked by the crazy number of large rocks present, this spring I'm even more disappointed in the city. Fall 2023: Once the city finished laying and leveling new soil, I planted 50 pounds of this seed. I think I planted in early September or maybe late August. I applied granulated starter fertilizer at the time of planting, and another 1/2 dose about 3 weeks later. The soil was undisturbed and no plants were growing at time of planting. I broadcast the seed and gently raked into the soil. I have automatic sprinklers which ran for 13 minutes, 4 times daily for the next 3 weeks as the seed germinated and started growing. Unfortunately the first day after laying seed I discovered my sprinklers weren't turning off and found a rock had wedged inside the sprinkler valve. The sprinklers ran for at least a few hours before I realized what was going on and it probably caused some of the seed to wash down the sloped planting area. What came up was nice green blades, but in a kind of linear pattern (I think seed washed down and got stuck in the areas I may have raked a bit deeper), so I didn't get a uniform germination. Winter 2023: we had a nice warm fall and grass stayed green well into november. It still looked pretty patchy with linear bald areas present. The winter was pretty mild as well, so I was hopeful for a nice green-up this spring. Spring 2024: it's apparent as things are waking up from winter that there is significant weed pressure from my "nice new soil"; there are dozens of stands of crab grass germinating and a few other weeds that I haven't yet identified. I don't believe this weed pressure is from the grass seed. I'd say about 75% of my grass survived the winter - for whatever reason the steeper portions of the hillside had significant die-off and where the hill levels off near the bottom I'm seeing nearly 100% survival. The grass that's still hanging around is having a tough time getting going this spring as it's not greening up too well and has barely grown at all. The area that receives light truck traffic looks dead/dying. In-all, I think this is pretty good grass seed. I didn't get quite the results I wanted, but I think I have a tough grow area and problems with watering way longer than intended right after laying the seed probably created some of my patchy growth issues. I do wish the grass that's still present was taking off better this spring, however, and that's the reason for a 4-star review, rather than 5 stars. To remedy my issues, I decided to overseed this spring and hope the new seed fills in what's not looking too good. As far as I can tell, turf-type tall fescue is the gold standard for the "transition zone", especially where I live as summers tend to be blazing hot. The shortfall of most tall fescues is that they don't really spread very well. This is a relatively harsh area for grass to grow, so I think I need something that can spread and fill in damaged areas more readily. Rather than buying more of this seed, I bought a mix of bluegrass (Barvette + J-2495) and perennial ryegrass. Specifically because my yard will have to deal with occasional traffic, I wanted something down there that can handle some abuse, which drew me to planting a specific bluegrass called "Barvette", which doesn't have the best color, but germinates quickly, spreads/fills aggressively, and is very tolerant of trauma. If the new stuff gets scorched by our hot summers, I'll probably buy more Black Beauty this fall and try again.

Great care was taken regarding watering and new soil but few seeds germinated. For the cost, I would have expected much much better! So disappointing after all the work put in to get grass growing.

My back yard is partially shaded gets around 5 hours of sun in the morning. I have in the past used the Johnathan Green Dense Shade mix for my back yard. Works amazing but the summer heat takes it out. I switch the the Ultra mix and it did pretty well this past year. This year I decided to make my yard on grass type. And use the tall fescue Johnathan Green. My yard is around 5000 sq/ft. I purchased a 25lb bag and used and seeded. It grew in very thin. What did grow looks to be quality grass, which is what I would expect but I’m guessing it needs more than the 5 hours of sun suggested on the bag. 4 starts because I’m sure it’s a quality seed, the parts that did grow look nice but germination was pretty bad. I’ll definitely have to seed again in the spring if I want a yard this summer

Most grass seed has 1 inch roots, this has 4inch roots. Keeps my grass greener during very hot summer

it was nice and thick WHEN it actually grew

Very expensive grass seeds but I'm hoping it'll be a resilient one in my 8a rainy area. Roots that go 4' deep is a major selling point but only time will tell if it'll survive the winter wetness. It took a longer time to germinate compared to other brands but it grows thick once it gets started. I put a shade cloth over the seeded area because of those wild birds...