There's a lot of research showing Diamond as having excellent (if not the best) shade tolerance of the Zoysias, but it's a dwarf species and should be maintained at 1/2" HOC or less. There's a Diamond Zoysia supplier in South Carolina: Diamond Zoysia, SC | New Life Turf.

A few recent studies show that Zoysia Japonicas (e.g., El Toro, Empire, JaMur, Palisades) are more shade tolerant than the Matrellas (e.g., Geo, Zeon, Zoysia). There are exceptions; Meyer and Zenith (the most common seeded Zoysia) are both Japonicas, but don't have good shade tolerance. Zeon seems to have a huge marketing machine for excellent shade tolerance, but there are Japonicas that do even better in shade.

The Japonicas have a wide blade (closer to St. Augustine); Matrellas have a fine blade (closer to Bermuda). So if you're planning on this intermingling alongside your Yukon, you'll probably want one of the finer blade varieties.

Here are a couple of recent papers on Zoysia shade tolerance:

• Comparative Performance and Daily Light Integral Requirements of Warm-Season Turfgrasses in Different Seasons
• Phenotypic Plasticity and Turf Performance of Zoysiagrass in Response to Reduced Light Intensities

 

Thank you for the info! I live in SC so I do think I am going to go with the Diamond Zoysia and see if it will work!

 

I don't know that you will find any warm season grass that will survive with only a couple hours of sunlight.

 

If you do, please start a lawn journal and keep us updated on how it does in the shade.

 

Interesting info and thanks for the research reads @franktiberi. I have all zeon and laugh when I see the “shade tolerant” and “disease resistant” messaging.

 

I for one appreciate the honesty. People think Xeon is the end all be all, and I just shake my head knowing what is to come. Especially in our area, I have plenty of people stop to ask about my yard and comment on looking to get zeon. They’ll be sorely let down with all their trees, lack of fungicides, no weekly summer mowing from a company and random inputs, some from dogs!

 

I have Empire and Geo and have not found those studies to be correct. I started with Empire and found that it didn’t do well in shade at all. I then put down Geo and it is doing much better and find I like it way more. My plan is to kill off the Empire that I have and go all Geo. I find it is a much nicer grass in every way.

 

@clbphllps as I know you are contemplating this

I have Empire and Geo and have not found those studies to be correct. I started with Empire and found that it didn’t do well in shade at all. I then put down Geo and it is doing much better and find I like it way more. My plan is to kill off the Empire that I have and go all Geo. I find it is a much nicer grass in every way.

 

I have empire that does well in 4 hours of direct sunlight... Any less than 4 it's not good.

 

I have El Toro in some seriously shaded areas. Thrives.

 

My best advice for shady areas is leave it taller if you can and you'll have to seriously baby it for it to look decent. It doesn't recover well at all and scalping is a no-no. I have emerald (fine blade) in my front and back yard and the back only sees a few hours of sunlight.

 

NOT Zorro, despite what I heard prior to me buying it for this very reason.

 

So you would not recommend zorro?

 

here is a scientific study on this topic

Low-input Performance of Zoysiagrass (Zoysia spp.) Cultivars Maintained under Dense Tree Shade

Low-input Performance of Zoysiagrass (Zoysia spp.) Cultivars Maintained under Dense Tree Shade

A 3-year study was conducted to evaluate the comparative performance of zoysiagrass (Zoysia spp.) cultivars for shaded environments in which inputs are minimized. Included in the study were commercial cultivars Diamond, Cavalier, Royal, Shadow Turf, Zorro, Zeon, Jamur, Crowne, Palisades, and...

journals.ashs.org

 

In my experience Zeon does not do well in shade

 

Yeah, not empire. It'll take it but won't win a contest.

My zeon does relatively well in shade and I'm at an inch and less, reeled. I cut when it says to (less). Morning shade is better than evening in my experience.

Shade also means you can't play soccer, mow with a scag and expect it to do well.

 

I also have zeon zoysia and bought into the shade tolerant marketing, 1 side of my yard is fairly heavy shade and it does not do well. It is so painful to watch it slowly thin year over year from when I sodded it I need to plan what my next move is for that side. The other side is mosly sunny and man, when it gets going it is so beautiful and nice to walk on, thick, soft, everything you want from a lawn. But shade tolerant? No.

 

From Mississippi State Publication Number: P2892

Table 1. Comparison of warm-season turfgrass shade adaptation.

Turfgrass	Scientific Name	Shade Tolerance	Sprigs and Sod	Seeded
St. Augustinegrass	Stenotaphrum secundatum	excellent	Raleigh, Palmetto, others	no
Manila zoysiagrass	Zoysia matrella	good	Cavalier, Diamond, Zeon, Royal, Zorro, and many others	no
Japanese zoysiagrass	Zoysia japonica	good	Meyer, El Toro, JaMur, Palisades, Empire, Empress	Zenith and others
centipedegrass	Eremochloa ophiuroides	medium	TifBlair, Oaklawn, TennTurf	TifBlair, Centiseed, others
broadleaf carpetgrass	Axonopus compresus	medium	not commonly available	yes
common carpetgrass	Axonopus fissifolius	medium	not commonly available	yes
seashore paspalum	Paspalum vaginatum	poor	several but not recommended for home lawns in Mississippi	Seaspray and others
bahiagrass	Paspalum notatum	poor	Common, Argentine, Pensacola	yes
bermudagrass	Cynodon spp.	very poor	328, MS-Choice, MS-Pride, Celebration, TifWay 419, TifGreen, TifGrand	many
buffalograss	Buchloe dactyloides	very poor	not commonly available