What Goes Down
The four mixes, and what is actually in them.
Two levels to each one: the species, and the named varieties inside them. That second level is what certified seed actually buys you. A generic bag says "perennial ryegrass" and stops there. A certified bag names the varieties and the share of each — which is the only reason a table like this one can exist.
Which mix suits your lawn comes down to light, and to whether we are repairing bare ground or thickening turf you already have. The estimator narrows it and David confirms it with you before anything is planted.
Perennial ryegrass100%
- Platinum40%Cuts clean rather than shearing white. Fine leaf, improved density, good recovery.
- Troya30%High wear tolerance and it holds its colour through the cold months. Dense ground cover.
- Esquire30%Very fast to establish, dark green all season, and multi-resistant — rusts, leaf spot, red thread, dollar spot.
Germinates 4–8 days
All of it. There is nothing slow in the bag.
Seeded by- Slice seedingbest fitBare ground held before the weeds get a vote.
- AeraSeeding
- Overseed over cores
The fastest thing we plant. Esquire drives the speed, Troya carries the wear and the winter colour, and Platinum adds the cleaner cut and the finer leaf. Three complementary cultivars rather than one, because a single variety shares a single weakness across the whole stand. These are turf-type ryegrasses, bred for a low growth habit and low mowing heights — fast to establish does not mean fast to get away from you, which is exactly where a cheap bag of forage-type ryegrass catches people out. Endophyte-enhanced too, so the leaves are less appealing to surface-feeding insects.
The limit. Not for deep shade.
Perennial ryegrass80%
- Troya40%Wear tolerance and winter performance.
- Esquire40%Speed and early density.
Kentucky bluegrass20%
- Mercury10%High shear strength, fast germination, and unusually good shade and drought tolerance for a bluegrass.
- Geisha10%Aggressive wear recovery. Self-repairs by rhizome after heavy damage.
Germinates 4–21 days
The four days is the ryegrass — the same Troya and Esquire the maker times at 4 to 8 days on its own. The three weeks is the bluegrass behind it. Four fifths of the bag is that ryegrass, so most of the lawn is up in the first week.
Seeded by- AeraSeedingbest fitOne pass across the whole lawn is what a rebuild wants.
- Slice seeding
- Overseed over cores
The ryegrass covers the ground quickly. The twenty per cent of bluegrass is the long game: Mercury for shear strength and establishment, Geisha for rhizome repair. Over several years the stand shifts toward a denser, more persistent bluegrass-dominant lawn — so the lawn you have in year five is not the lawn you seeded.
The limit. Not for deep shade.
Kentucky bluegrass40%
- Appalachian30%Quick to establish, early spring green-up, repairs itself by rhizome.
- Bluestar10%Aggressive rooting, heat and drought tolerant, low growth habit so it scalps less.
Perennial ryegrass35%
- Mighty35%Rapid establishment, fine texture, salt tolerant, high endophyte. Strong on grey leaf spot and brown patch.
Creeping red fescue25%
- Maxima25%Year-round visual quality, exceptional disease resistance, rhizomes that aid recovery.
Germinates 7–21 days
Only about a third is ryegrass here, so far less is up early — the bluegrass sets the pace, which is why this one wants existing turf around it.
Seeded by- AeraSeedingbest fitInto turf that is already holding the soil.
- Overseed over cores
- Slice seedingnot this oneNot into bare patches — the bluegrass is too slow to hold open ground.
Built for overseeding into turf that already covers the ground, not for starting bare soil. Mighty establishes quickly and carries the disease resistance; Appalachian and Bluestar supply the early green-up, the density and the rhizome repair; Maxima adds year-round quality and stress tolerance. The slow bluegrass component is survivable here precisely because the existing lawn is holding the soil while it comes.
The limit. Sun or partial shade, to a maximum of 40% reduced sunlight. Wants dethatching every second season.
Best for shade
Ultra Shade
Fescue dominant
Creeping red fescue40%
- Maxima40%Strong creeping red. Stress tolerance, disease resistance, rhizome recovery.
Chewings fescue30%
- Windward30%Bred at Pickseed specifically for shade, low fertility and acid soils. Endophyte-enhanced and very winter hardy.
Perennial ryegrass20%
- Sideways20%A spreading type — it puts out stolons early, so thin turf closes gaps sideways instead of waiting for new seed.
Kentucky bluegrass10%
- Appalachian10%A little extra rhizome repair capacity.
Germinates 7–21 days
The fescues lead and the ryegrass is only a fifth of the bag, so this one fills in steadily rather than fast.
Seeded by- Slice seedingbest fitRoot competition under a canopy needs seed placed at depth.
- AeraSeeding
- Overseed over cores
Seventy per cent fine fescue, because that is what actually persists with less light. Windward is the shade specialist and Maxima brings the recovery. The ryegrass in it spreads rather than clumps, which matters where thin shade turf needs to close gaps on its own, and the small share of Appalachian adds repair capacity behind it.
The limit. Mow it higher than the rest of your lawn. Under dense shade, no seed mix is the real answer.
Species percentages are the manufacturer's. The variety names and their shares are read off the labels on the bags we are planting this season — a blend gets reformulated as better varieties are released, so this is what goes down now rather than a fixed recipe. A blend is several cultivars of one species; a mixture is several species. Futura 3000 is a blend. The other three are mixtures.
