RN
Which NZLA seed has the darkest green colour?
Which NZLA lawn seed generally has the darkest colour. I’m guessing it’s out of MDR or ETF ? The reason I ask is that I find rye tends to look more shiny, especially if you have recently mowed or walked on it.
MDR says it's one of the darkest in NZ so I'm guessing that one.
MDR is the darkest.
Would that also mean MDR has more noticeable stripes than the rest of the NZLA grasses?
@Nick M Dark Rye and MDR are definitely darker, so the stripes tend to stand out more. But I think a lot of people put too much emphasis on the grass type itself for producing stripes.
I've seen people running MDR and Dark Rye whose lawns still look average because the basics just aren't being followed properly. Mowing frequency, fertiliser, watering, sharp blades, they all play a massive role.
You see it a lot in the Facebook group where someone posts a really nice lawn and people ask "what grass is that?" thinking they can just sow that seed and instantly get the same result, when really it's the whole programme and consistency behind it.
That said, if all the basics are dialled in, then yeah, MDR and Dark Rye are probably about on par and definitely give some of the darkest striping.
To be fair, even lighter coloured ryegrasses like NZ Perennial Rye can still look unreal when they're healthy, well fed and maintained properly. That grass stripes up mint.
I'd say RSR is the worst one for striping (still not bad), but it has its own benefits over the others.
Another thing, just because the grass is darker the contrast between the stripes doesn't increase, so it's somewhat relative. Darker ryegrasses like MDR or Dark Perennial Rye tend to make the lawn look more visually dramatic overall because the turf has a richer base colour, but the actual stripe contrast itself isn’t necessarily massively higher just because the grass is darker. The striping effect is still mainly coming from light reflecting differently depending on the direction the leaf is laying.