Windsor Green Couch

Author: Stefan Palm   Date Posted: 23 January 2023 

When choosing a variety of lawn, there are many options to choose from. If you're looking for durability, drought tolerance and beautiful year-round looks, Windsor Green Couch (sometimes referred to as Bermuda grass) should be top of your list!

Couch grasses have been gaining popularity in recent years, and for good reason. Couch grass is the ideal solution for those looking for durability and vigour while not being as aggressive or invasive as kikuyu. Often referred to as looking like a carpet, they offer a deep green appearance and fine blades, typically 2-3 mm wide. What's not to love? 

If couch grasses have piqued your interest, with a quick search on the internet, you'll soon discover that there are quite a few varieties to choose from, all promising wonderful things.  After decades in the turf industry, I can say that not all varieties of couch thrive in Adelaide's climate. If you think about it, Australia has a vast spectrum of climatic conditions ranging from cool temperate zones in Tasmania through to desert in the middle to sub-tropical in New South Wales and tropical up north. This is important to consider when doing your research and to make sure that the information you are reading was written with South Australia's dry and hot temperate climate in mind. 

Windsor Green is one of those couches that do really well in South Australia. How do we know this? We've been supplying it here for more than 20 years. Windsor Green Couch was developed in Australia by Peter McMaugh (OAM), who is unquestionably recognised as Australia's foremost authority on turf grass. One of Peter’s greatest passions is developing improved turfgrass varieties.  Among the notable examples of Peter’s involvement in the selection and subsequent commercialisation of turfgrasses are Greenlees Park (early 1970’s), Wintergreen (1981), WindsorGreen (1993) and Sir Walter soft-leaf buffalo (1996).  WindsorGreen couchgrass was the first couchgrass cultivar in Australia to be developed and commercialised through Plant Breeder's Rights (PBR). 

Winsor Green has been specifically designed for the Australian home lawn market, where traditionally, couches have been developed with sports applications in mind. Sports couches are generally faster growing, faster spreading and have shorter dormancy periods to cope with the relentless wear they receive. This, of course, means more maintenance. Windsor Green, however, is a slower-growing variety with a longer dormancy period meaning less maintenance which is ideal for the home lawn, which will rarely receive the punishment of a sports field.

Beautiful and soft, it has superior colour retention all year round, especially compared to other warm-season lawns in winter.

According to Peter, it is a semi-dwarf couch grass which means less mowing and less watering. It has low thatch production and is less aggressive, so it is less likely to invade and take over your garden. Yet it also boasts excellent self-repairing qualities, excellent drought tolerance and is extremely pet tolerant.

Specifications

 

Drought Tolerance   Excellent
Durability   Excellent. Very hardwearing. Very drought tolerant
Colour   Excellent year-round colour
Salt Tolerance   Excellent. Will tolerate up to 5000ppm.
Mowing Height   10-15mm
Maintenance   Medium to low
Use   Predominantly residential or wherever a low maintenance grass is required.
Texture   Fine to very fine blade. Low prostrate carpet-like appearance.

Characteristics

Low Water Use

Windsor Green is by nature a lawn that can survive on low amounts of water. It is categorized as a warm-season grass which means it thrives in our hot climate. Its slow growth means it requires less water, making it a responsible choice to conserve water. Remember, once established, Windsor Green is extremely drought tolerant.

Low Maintenance

Windsor Green can be described as a semi-dwarf variety of lawn, meaning less work for you. Windsor Green requires less scarifying and edging and is less aggressive than other couch grasses available in South Australia. Because of this, there is less chance of garden invasion, making it easier to manage around garden areas. Windsor Green was specifically developed as a low-maintenance lawn, so it's perfectly suited for the home.

Hard Wearing

Excellent self-repairing qualities.

Windsor Green is hardy in almost all full sun conditions and is very hard-wearing. Its dense carpet-like growth allows it to withstand high amounts of traffic. It is perfect for areas where low maintenance and low water use lawn is required.

Self Repairing

Windsor Green is a self-repairing lawn. In the event that Windsor Green is damaged, it repairs itself with its fine root system enabling it to recover from wear and damage without having to replace sections of the lawn.

Superior Year-Round Colour

Windsor Green retains its green colour all year round on the Adelaide Plains.

Pet Resistant

Unlike some lawns, Windsor Green will recover from dog and cat urine damage. Its root system allows it to recover from damage caused by cats and dogs.

 

For more information about Windsor Green and all of our other varieties of instant turf, go to our turf page at Paul Munns Instant Lawn for more information. If you'd like to have a chat about which lawn might work best for you, give us a call on 8298 0555