Would you say you have dense shade or partial shade? If it is dense (less than 2 hours of sun would be my definition), grass is not going to do well. Fescue is actually one of the most shade tolerant grasses. Zoysia would probably be something to consider, but not as tolerant as fescue for shade.

Fescue is available in sod and would best be planted in fall because it thrives in cool weather and would establish better then. Fescue will struggle a bit during the hottest and driest months, but that may be a trade off you have to take. Consider installing a minimal irrigation system if it is that important to you.

I was just discussing with my neighbor his poor shady, fescue lawn. It looks awful and is very sparse. He doesn't use the lawn area for anything, so I was encouraging him to get rid of some of it so he doesn't have to keep spending energy trying to make it work.

Of course limbing up some of the bigger trees to let more light into the area is something to consider. That would make the grass growing effort a bit more successful. A professional tree company could advise you on that once you explain the situation.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lawns in Georgia

creeping red fesuce did great for me in shade, poor, acid soil. Loved it, and I find grass to be too high maintenance/water requirement to deal with (plant more tress is my theory). Creeping red is fine blade, dark green, hates care. DON'T fertilize it or you'll kill it. I don't know that you can get it in sod though. I had to seed it a couple of seasons in a row, then left it alone for years, only used a hose end lawn weed-be-gone sort of thing in the spring and late fall.

esh_ga is correct though, there is such thing as too much shade.

Esh, We already have an irrigation system but when our summers hit its almost impossible to keep it from thinning out. Its gorgeous 9 months out of the year which is why we are hesitant to put any other kind of seed other than fescue. It is dense shade in my opinion. Only dappled sun. All hardword also. We love all the trees for the shade so we try not to mess with them so we can have shade but then there goes your grass. We have taken up most of the area with a huge shade bed full of hosta, azaleas and so on but left a chunk of grass. Didn't know if fescue sod would thin out like fescue seed. The rest of the yard is in fescue but it gets sun so its really pretty even now but we have had to run the irrigation system quite often to keep it that way. Thanks for your help, Judy

Thanks Layla, We did use a seed this year with creeping red fescue in it and it did do better this year but now its thinned out terribly. The shade is nice for these hot days but grass needs it apparently to to look its best. Thanks for your suggestions, Judy

New to Garden Web! Live in Canton Ga 30114. Want to plant new sod in very shady lawn. Old Burmuda is thin and weedy. Is Zoysia best for this area? Any other sods more shade tolerant? Thanks

Zoysia needs sun. I've heard there is a more shade tolerant fescue.

Call Buck Jones Nursery just south of Canton (listed as Woodstock but it is in Hickory Flat) and ask them for suggestions. They sell sod.

Zeon zoysia I was told can get by with only 4 hours of sunlight. It is what I consider the top of the line on grass varieties, very soft to the touch and looks great. I planted some in a part of my front yard that gets only 4 to 5 hours of sun, mainly mid day. It has survived, and has not thinned out, however it just does not have as much vigor with that amount of sunlight to choke out weeds. That is probably the case for any grass tying to grow with those sunlight limitations. In areas of full sun, zeon chokes out the weeds like any other warm season grass. Anyway, by mid summer, the weeds are gone and it looks awesome so zeon is an option for areas having 4 hours minimum sunlight.

I have had very good luck with Geo Zoysia. it is a little bit more expensive, but does well in partial shade. I get 3-4 hours of direct light and then filtered from there on out. The grass is still thriving.