One of the first steps to understanding the grass that makes up your lawn is the anatomy of each grass plant. There is an average of six grass plants per square inch of your lawn. If your lawn has 5,000 square feet, then it has over 4 million grass plants. That is a lot to handle! To achieve the goal of growing, mowing and caring for your grass we need to look at a plant up close.
Grass can really be broken up into 3 parts: above the ground, below the ground and ground level. Everything starts at ground level with the crown - which is where the blades and roots begin. Below the ground has roots and rhizomes. Roots keep the grass in the ground and soak up the nutrients and water the plant needs to survive. Rhizomes spread the grass plant underground to create a new plant. Much of the grass plant resides above ground. The parts above ground consist of a stolon, tiller, stem, blade, nodes, collar, and sheath. The stolon are runners that spread new plants above the ground. Tillers are secondary shoots that grow from the same plant at the crown. Stems support the leaves of the grass plant. The blade is the upper portion of the leaf. Nodes are swollen areas where buds become new leafy tops after the grass is cut. The collar is the place where the blade and sheath meet. The sheath is the rounded part at the origin of the blade that covers the stem.
Not all grasses will produce a lawn. You need turfgrasses to make grass into a lawn. Turfgrasses are compact and have the ability to recover from mowing. With the right landscaping services, this task can be a breeze. Grass is meant to be crowded and grow thickly and tightly to form a carpet of green grass. Choosing the right type of grass can be one of the most important factors in the survival of the lawn.