Real Advice From a Local Lawn Expert Who Knows What Works Here 

If you’re considering or currently maintaining St. Augustine grass in Burleson, Texas, there are a few things you need to know. When properly maintained, St. Augustine can provide a thick, green, and beautiful lawn—but only if your yard meets the right conditions.

Why We Recommend Raleigh St. Augustine

At Burleson Lawn Care, we prefer Raleigh St. Augustine because it’s better suited for our North Texas climate and common issues:

  • ✅ Cold Tolerance – Handles occasional freezes better than other varieties
  • ✅ Readily Available – Easy to source locally for new installs or repairs
  • ✅ Resistance to St. Augustine Decline (SAD) – Raleigh offers good resistance to this common viral disease

Key Characteristics of St. Augustine Grass

  • Warm-season grass with broad, coarse blades and dense growth habit
  • Tolerates more shade than Bermuda or Zoysia, but still needs 6–8 hours of direct sun
  • Not a shade grass—despite the reputation, it will thin and decline in low-light conditions
  • Spreads by stolons, making it quick to fill in bare spots when healthy
  • Goes dormant every winter, which stresses the grass and requires proper spring recovery
  • Low wear tolerance—St. Augustine does not handle foot traffic well 

Problem Areas for St. Augustine in Burleson Lawns

Many homeowners plant St. Augustine in the wrong places, expecting it to thrive—then wonder why it thins out or dies. Common failure zones include:

  • Shaded areas between houses
  • Shaded fence lines
  • Around air conditioning units
  • Shaded zones irrigated by aerobic septic systems
  • Poorly drained shady areas
  • Along driveways where people frequently step in and out of vehicles

These areas combine poor drainage, shade, and/or foot traffic—all things that St. Augustine does not tolerate well.

Seasonal Tips for St. Augustine Care in Burleson

🌱 Spring: Don’t Start Too Soon

St. Augustine wakes up slowly. Many homeowners start watering too early—March through May overwatering is a major problem in Burleson.

  • Excess moisture in cool soils leads to root suffocation, yellowing, and disease
  • Spring success depends on removing the winter layer of dead grass before April 1st
  • We recommend power raking or verticutting annually to reduce disease pressure and allow sunlight to warm the soil

☀️ Summer: Manage the Heat

  • St. Augustine lacks the drought tolerance of Bermuda
  • Missed waterings in extreme heat can lead to drought stress
  • Once drought stress happens, those areas often become disease-prone the following spring

🍂 Fall: Prepare for Dormancy

  • Ease off fertilization
  • Keep mowing height consistent
  • Avoid creating compacted, wet conditions that carry issues into the next season

Important Shade Truth

People often call St. Augustine a “shade grass.” That’s misleading. It’s simply the most shade-tolerant of the full-sun grasses.

➡️ If Raleigh St. Augustine won’t grow in your yard due to shade or drainage—nothing else will either.

In those cases, trimming trees, redesigning beds, or installing hardscape is your best option.

Our Program Can’t Fix Poor Cultural Practices

Our fertilization and weed control program is not a cure-all.

  • If your lawn suffers from poor drainage, lack of sunlight, foot traffic, or bad mowing and watering habits—no product will fix that.
  • What we will do is give you the most accurate and honest assessment of your lawn—so you’re not guessing or wasting money on treatments that won’t work.

We’ve been taking care of St. Augustine lawns in Burleson and surrounding areas for over 25 years. We know the difference between a lawn that needs treatment and one that needs a new approach.

📞 Call 1-800-LAWNCARE or visit uglyweeds.com to schedule your spring dethatching, lawn evaluation, or to ask us what’s really going on with your grass.

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