Black Beauty® Shady Nooks Grass Seed

I have never planted grass seed before and am quite lazy and impatient and cheap! I have a small rental townhouse and the backyard is very shady and full of weeds, but too costly to hire someone to fix. Last October, I figured I would mostly pull the weeds and throw down some of the shady nook grass seed plus the magical plus. Put on a sprinkler timer for 5 minutes a day and walked away. 3 weeks later it was LUSH and GORGEOUS! I can\’t believe the difference – especially given this is my first time and I am not all that careful. Love it. Wish I could post a before and after picture because it is hard to believe how good the transformation of the mud pit to lush yard was!

Have used this now for the 2nd year and with the rains we have had this is filling in very nice. Just noticed today that the thickness is becoming lush. Great Product.

Don\’t ever use this grass send – contains Poa T, or it used to. It ruined my Lawn and J.G. will not own up to it. IT\’s a disaster and it grows in the sun areas of my lawn.

We are sorry to hear about your dissatisfaction with our Shady Nooks Grass Seed Mixture.  You are correct that we did have 10% Poa Trivialis in this mixture three years ago. Poa Trivialis is a great choice for lawns that are grown in damp shade.  It is not a good grass for sunny areas of the lawn, because in the sun it looks very different. It creates a mottled appearance in the lawn and looks like a contaminant. We thought that the name of this grass seed mixture Shady Nooks and the descriptive phrase on the bag, “Survives in shady areas, wet or dry, where others have failed” would alert our customers to the fact that this was not a grass seed mixture to plant in the sunny areas of the lawn.  We did receive a few complaints about poa trivialis by people who had planted it in the sunny areas of their lawn and decided that we should stop using poa trivialis in Shady Nooks which as I stated earlier was three years ago.   If you check out the reviews for Shady Nooks on our website there are 108 of them right now.  85 give Shady Nooks a 5- Star Rating, 21 a 4-Star Rating and 2 a 3-Star Rating.  There are no 2-star or 1-star ratings so the vast majority of our customers really like the Shady Nooks Grass Seed Mixture. If you write back with your address we will send you a bag of the new mixture to try, we think that you will like what you see in your lawn this time.  

Thank you for your feedback,  The Jonathan Green Team

great 4 shade

Outstanding results in a wet, shady area I have previously had trouble growing grass. I’ve tried all kinds of fescue mixes, rye mixes, and mixes advertised as dense shade. Just about every grass seed on the Internet that advertises as a shady mix. By far the best results were from this product. Time will tell how it holds up over the winter.

This is the second 25 lb bag we have used this year on a shady section of our backyard ! By far the best grass seed ever. Two of our neighbor’s have asked what we used, so expect more customers

Good germination. Thriving where no other seed has.

I’ve been putting down this Shady Nooks grass seed for the past two years, and it’s really the only grass mixture I can get to take in our woodsy, sandy yard. We actually have more moss than grass, lots of shade and dappled sun, and sandy/gravelly soil-those are the conditions I have to deal with.
This stuff germinates well, and covers the bare spots. It’s a little bit expensive, but I wasted money on the cheap stuff. This works.

i would say pretty much all of the seed i layed down as sprouted. I would buy this again. Prep is key! make sure your soil is broken up for the seeds to grab and water every day for at least 2-3 weeks.

it’s coming in really well in areas that have always been a problem. even with lousy soil

at 1st I didnt think it would work, it said wld grow in 3-5 days…. 2 weeks later it started sprouting. even if you just throw it on top of soil it will grow.

Five Stars so far. The seed was put down in a very densely shaded area in early October. The germination period was extremely quick and the grass is fairly thick. Spread the seed on with a Scotts broadcast spreader set on 7, that was probably to high a setting given how thick the grass is coming in. This is a much higher quality seed than what you typically get at your big box hardware stores. I will update in the summer of 2019 to advise on how the grass does in extreme shade.

Have a shaded damp area near cedar trees. this worked very well. nothing else did.

Great Grass Seed – best I’ve ever used

works well!

Worked great in our shady corner.

I was very sceptical when I read that this grass would grow in dense shade but it does. We have over 30 large Oak trees in our back yard and I have tried all sorts of grass that claim to grow and then it would dye after a few monts. This stuff is still there. I have to say, you do need to give it plenty of water in this summer heat though. I water it deep every 3 days since we have hit 95 degrees and above. So far we still have grass. I am very pleased.

Great seeds. They take about a couple of weeks to grow, but the they fill up nicely. Keep them moist while germinating.

Great seed for shady areas. I’ve used it before and It grows very fast provided that you have enough soil prepared. Don’t over-water but at least once a day water enough. Always plant seed in the fall for best root development. This by and far is the best seed I have used. Forget Scott’s, and the others this seed is the real McCoy

Amazing seed. I bought this for some shady areas underneath an elevated deck is have. I had great germination in 4 days which is amazing. I have and will be a Jonathan Green product user for life.

I planted this in a wet area that gets about 2 hours of sun a day. It germinated on the fourth day. The bag lists mostly fescues and that appears to be what has germinated. It was a little patchy, the seed does not like to be covered much if at all. I am on the seventh day now and have spread a bit more seed here and there. I see a lot of seed that has not germinated yet. The bag lists rye grass, I don’t see anything but dark blue green fescue. I will update in a few weeks but so far, It is doing what fescue does. Grow slowly, very thin bladed grass that lays down when a chipmunk runs over it.

Shady Book Grass Seed is fantastic. Grass sprouted in about 3 days. I bought another bag.

If you live in the hills and mountains of New Hampshire you come to look upon a decent looking lawn as a luxury. We live deep in the woods and dense shade is an apt description. Having lived in upstate New York, Illinois and New Jersey good, rich soil is taken for granted. Growing grass in the Granite State is like trying to grow grass on concrete with a thick coating of dust. However, being a thick headed never giver upper I tried again and lo and behold even my wife was impressed and suggested that maybe I could outlive the label of Don Quixote. Germinates in about a week and needs cutting in two. Color is dark green. Next spring will be the final judge on how it handles winter but for now–Thanks Jonathan.

Of all of the shade variety grass seeds, this is the only one that actually works. I throw it down and it grows, the other brands do not grow regardless of fertilizer, watering and mulch.

First time for using this product but I got to tell you this is the first time I’ve been able to grow grass on the sloping hillside of my yard. I have tried every brand of grass seed and have failed to grow grass in this area. It’s a nice thick Fescue type of grass that is seems to be sturdy and withstanding 90° hot weather we have already experienced in this year. Would buy this product again !!

I used this under a large shade tree where grass never grew. My wife said it would never work. I prepared the surface by lightly breaking up the compacted soil, and covered the seeds with that recycled paper mulch for new grass. Watered regularly for the first few weeks and now I have grass right up to the trunk and roots of the tree.

This is the only seed mix that took to my shady spots in the yard, first season but I have grass under trees, lets hope it takes and builds root structure .

Seeds germinated pretty well and blended in with the rest of my lawn. I recommend this if you have a damp shaded lawn like I do.

Excellent choice for dry tree shade

ok

Absolutely the best grass seed I have ever used.

Sprouted in 10 days- 2 weeks.

Grows fast and strong, as I had hoped for my shady areas.

great product

Quality product. Works great. Grass is going after only a week.

good

Expensive but seems to work.

First used in May but cool weather delayed growth. As soon as warmer & sunnier days came the grass sprouted. Not very thick turf but full and green. Will see how it does through the summer and into the Fall.

Last year we had the ugliest lawn on the street. Now we have the greenest, most lush one! The seed sprouted quickly and evenly. It will be interesting to see how well it does through the summer heat and drier months, but so far we are thrilled!

It grew SO fast! Incredible seed! Saw baby grass in a week.

I live on a 1 acre wooded lot in central maryland and when we moved in 3 years ago, there was no grass at all. We literally live in the middle of the woods. After seeing a friends wooded lot covered with grass, I was inspired to try and clear an area around my house for a yard. So after spending nearly an entire summer clearing the debris and hauling it to the dump, I was ready to plant grass seed. But I wondered what, if anything, would actually grow under such a dense canopy of trees. I went to Clarks Ace Hardware in ellicott city MD and the guys in the lawn and garden dept handed me the Shady Nooks and told me if I couldn’t get that to grow on my lot, nothing would grow. September of 2015 I seeded the cleared area – about 1/2 acre. Weeks later, grass everywhere! This April I overseeded the whole lawn with another 35 lbs of shady nooks. Man is it everywhere! Dense and lush! This stuff really grows, and it will last the winter. I am truly impressed, and most visitors are too!

grass is growing great

Impressive! We’ve got so many trees in our backyard and didn’t expect much, but this grass seed grew so quickly and is covering nicely.

Exactly what I needed! Best grass seed I have ever used. After two weeks, already germinated and filling bare spots! Growing where I’ve never been able to get grass started. Very pleased and only been two weeks!!

Best grass seed on the market. Look a the 6 week difference!

Mixed this with the dense shade grass seed for the shady lot next to our cabin. It worked great…and grew very fast!

There be grass under the tree. Quote from Star Trek – “There be whales”. So far so good.

So far the shady mix is doing well. But the real evaluation is next spring when the trees have their leaves back.

Great product!!! We bought the fertilizer, shady nook & fast growing grass. We have a very shady backyard, that was pretty much just dirt. So used the 3 products together – One, to get the grass to grow quickly, two. assumed the shady nook would take longer to grow in. We had great grass year 2. Worked amazingly well! We had spent years and lots of money getting seed at the local nursery, raw seed as well as various name brands like scotts, that never worked. Other products we had used had an annual grass that would die by fall – this comes back in. This came in and stayed in. Highly recommend it. Also nice that seed arrived had been tested recently. This stuff work fabulously! We still reseed in the spring and use this – works like a charm. For year 2 we filled in some bare places with the remaining seed & fertilizer. Year one, our wooded backyard was all dirt. Cannot say enough good things about this line of products.

Needed grass seed for very shady spot near tall pine trees. Prepared the soil, added lime and starter fertilizer then the seed and the seed came up in 7 days! A few weeks later, the whole section looks great. Seed was delivered via prime shipping and arrived packed in a box. Will by again!

Filled in wonderfully. Bag was partially split open when it arrived and roughly a third of the seed was the box. If that hadn’t been the case would’ve been five stars.

These seeds worked fine, but I am not sure if they will last. So, I am just taking
it easy by watering and waiting at this point. They come up in about a week, and
you just have to keep giving them attention daily until they lock into your soil.
I would recommend this product.

Pretty remarkable stuff considering it is just grass seed. You get what you pay for–this stuff shot up in just a few days after application and daily watering during the month of August in Michigan on a wooded lot. I am going to buy more soon to fill in other areas of the yard. Very good product and recommended.

I planted the seed in a shady area and now I’m getting grass within 10 days. So far so good.

I was everything I expected.

I have been trying to get grass to grow under my hard maples trees for several years now. I have purchased several types of grass seed for shady areas. This one has outdone all the rest. I still have a few bare spots, and will plant more seed this fall, but am VERY happy with my purchase. I have no idea why this works better than all the others one, but it does. I am worried it might start to die out when the really hot weather hits here in August, so i may revise this in a couple of months.

GOOD, I NEED TO BUY DOUBLE QUANTITY TO COVER A NEW LAWN.

This actually grows in my backyard which had little topsoil (Georgia clay) and is very dark and woodsy. I didn’t even try very hard. Will buy more and do it right.

The grass seed is growing very well in full shade where I’ve been unable to keep any other grass alive. Very happy.

Love this grass seed, never have I had a grass seed take off as easy as this one, loosed the dirt, put on a starter fertilizer,grass seed, water, grass sprouting by the 7th day, remarkable!, now let’s see what it looks like next year at this time

I have a green golf course lawn after 4weeks, it is the best seed ever, works as promised, highly recomend!!!

Great product! Worked where other grass seeds didn’t.

Well, I decided to try this on my front yard in a shady area that would not grow grass at all……. because the sod I put don’t two years ago never took well and didn’t return and other attempts before failed as well. It has been almost a month since I put it down and I am completely satisfied with the outcome. I did want to mention that I mixed 3 lb of their fast grow version in one area as well, hoping to increase the likely-hood of growing grass their to keep the soil from eroding by rain water. I have attached photos of before and after so you can see the results. I cannot say whether other products work good or not because this is the only one I tried, but this one works great! Also, when I applied it, I literally just sprinkled the seeds on top of the soil (you can see the seeds in the pic if you expand it) and watered it every three days or so until I started to see some sprouting, which took about ten days. Afterwards, other sprouts kept popping up and thickening over the next few weeks, until what I have now.

great for shade. doesn’t like heat or too much sun.

It grew……don’t know if it will come back this year….time will tell

what did come up was really healthy. heavy rain washed most of it away and in the lake. no fault of the grass seed.

Good

I highly recommend this product and seller! Great product & amazing service!!!

I’m thrilled with the way my lawn looks. This was low maintenance; grew in nicely; I would buy it again.

Got good seed germination in shaded areas. The grass is dense and dark green. Will order more.

Love this stuff. Grows just about anywhere.

Great blend of grass seed.

September planting in Northern Virginia. Sprouted within about a week in new lawn, fresh topsoil area covered with Excelsior Mat #87456, and is really thick after a few weeks. Didn’t sprout too well in areas not covered with the mat. Added some Jonathan Green Starter Fertilizer, and the grass looks great.

Great grass – it all sprouted and filled in my lawn nicely – will buy more in days to come

It actually grows grass in dense shaded areas.

Took less than a week to germinate. Planted this stuff below two 30 ft maple trees in my yard. Hope it stays, but so far this grass is the best I’ve ever worked with.

Yep it grows in the shade,

Grew grass where no other grass could!

Grass grew in the dense shaded area I have – surprised with minimal effort (we have had a wet spring / summer). I did use a plug aerator to prep the area I used the seed in

We have a front lawn where half is shaded by a huge (3-4 story) pear tree. The lawn there is notorious for being patchy but this stuff really filled it in. Gladly will buy again. Worked better than another brand, which has a blue coating designed to be helpful in dry climates. That grass did not grow as well as this stuff, without any coating.

Worked very well in mostly shady area – but limited growth in true shady area. Will try seeding again.

Beautiful grass. Does grow in shady areas.

Grew where no other grass has been able (deep shade under Live Oaks). I areated the area before spreading the seed and saved some of the seed for reapplication to spot thicken areas for a dense mat. Germination for me was in approximately 16 days. I found the use of starter fertilizer produced quick germination and strong growth (don’t skip this step).

I have two side yards that are very heavily shaded. Nothing has grown there for years and since they are banked were washing away. I even had a professional landscaper put down the netting and hydro mulch the area two years ago, nothing. I decided to try this, because well why not I’ve tried everything else. I threw it out and barely even raked it in a little. I went and looked closely a week later and it’s growing, I can’t believe it. I just ordered another bag to finish the job. We are in far northern Wisconsin, well it come back next year after one of our winters, we will see. But for now its a winner.

This is not an inexpensive seed, but for me it was worth the extra money. The deep green color is stunning. I filled in several areas that had become spotty , then did an even seeding over the whole lawn. The grass was very fine at first , then widened into nice consistent blades… peat moss and watering is key. I used both the Black Beauty mix and the Shady Nooks mix I am going to start the entire Jonathan Green program … it’s worth the investment.

Really good product!!! It’s easy to use, grows fast and the green is absolutely beautiful and smoothie! I highly recommend!!!

aerated and seeded the lawn with a starter fertilizer just days before a huge 5″ rain. bad idea since it washed away on slopes. but i must say what survived is actually growing in a 100% shady area. i will reseed more in fall. i am curious to see what happens as this mid-atlantic summer gets in full swing, but so far, so good. i’ve tried other brands and haven’t gotten this far yet.

I purchased this seed, it came up and is really nice and green, with the exception of all the brown spots from my 2 female dogs. It burnt right thru it. Now I am looking for something that will take me thru scraping & replanting. I am so tired of trying to make a nice lawn. Next step artificial dog turf.

Well, we have no clue what we’re doing. We moved from the city up to southern NH last year and managed to kill half our grass. After extensive googling, it was probably a combination of two things: (1) grubs, (2) mowing too short (it seemed like such a good idea to mow to the shortest setting then we wouldn’t have to mow as often…).
We started with a wooded lot, lots of neighbors with beautiful lawns in mid-May, tons of moss, dandelions, weeds, bare patches, and tufts of yellow-brown sad grass in some places. We bought this Shady Nooks based on reviews here. We had no idea how big our yard was, so got the 7-pound / 5,000 sqft bag; 5,000 sqft sounds huge! It was not enough, so we got a 25-lb bag of Black Beauty Ultra from a nearby garden store too (our yard seems to be between 10k-15k sqft). The places where we seeded Shady Nooks (better than Black Beauty Ultra) and watered are growing great, it’s been 3 weeks.
Since we don’t know what we’re doing and didn’t have a huge budget for tools nor extensive attention span, here’s what we did:
1) Bought a Scott Snap Spreader and a bag of whatever was cheapest (insecticide I think), spread that then cut the bag open and refilled
2) Spread Jonathan Green MagiCal lime to raise soil pH because we have many pines which lower soil pH and make it hard for grass to grow, but easy for grubs, weeds, and moss
3) Spread starter fertilizer
4) Spread Shady Nook’s seed
5) Set up a timer and oscillating sprinkler to water for 10 minutes morning & evening
Note: we did not de-thatch that seemed too complicated for us, we also did not aerate soil for the same reason; in few places we used a hoe to loosen moss (but not all moss areas)
Results:
1-2 days — old grass seemed to get greener probably enjoying some fertilizer
1 week — some grass sprouting
2 weeks — stopped watering, much grass sprouting in shaded areas where we watered; grass grew both on bare soil, bare patches between old grass, and within moss!
3 weeks — grass is greater than 2″ high in places
Summary:
This Shady Nooks grass is great for a wooded lot & people who don’t know what they’re doing Shady Nooks seems to grow in sunnier areas (4-6hrs) also. Watering seems to be absolutely necessary, but grass was able to grow on top of moss! Possibly we could have seeded denser in bare areas because we don’t have a lawn per se, but as I said we have no clue what we’re doing. We’re just incredibly happy that any grass grew!

I have a very shady front lawn. I put down some topsoil, starter fertilizer, Jonathan Green Shady Nooks Grass Seed, rolled the seed down, watered 2-3 times a day. In 6 days the grass started to germinate and after 4 weeks I have mowed it twice and the neighbor who planted big box store seed just a few days after me has yet to mow. I can’t wait to over seed my entire lawn this fall with some black beauty!!

We had a part of our yard that had not been seeded for some years, so we decided to tackle it with the help of some top soil. Sure enough in about a week, the Shady Nooks seed was poking up and in two weeks it looks beautiful and lush. We are really pleased!

Living in Alabama on a historical homestead, we have many large cedars and other shade trees with roots that soak up any moisture thatmight have we have in the summer.. The only grass that will grow in the shade is crab grass when it can find room to sprout amongst the dandelions! We have tried different grasses, sod, etc., to no avail. On a whim, in the late summer last year, I bought a 7 pound bag of this seed and tossed it by hand in the shady areas. It came up quickly but sparsely and I assumed it would also not grow here. Fast-forward to NOW…omgosh…it is lush and dark green everywhere that was tossed it out!!! I can’t believe it! I’m ordering the 25 lb bag today!

I will be using this grass seed on my bare spots in my grass. Hopefully it is still good I bought it last year.

This is some premo grass. I used to get some low grade stuff from my neighbor, but he went away and I needed a new source. Would sew again.

This grass is very hardy. It comes in nice and green. A durable cover for most climes. Great stuff! Green On!

I mixed this dense shade mix with Jonathan Green’s Shady Nooks on a whim as I have no idea what makes them any different.
I seeded an area that I cleaned up and that is heavily wooded. I added a starter fertilizer and some pelletized lime. The results are very good as there is grass growing everywhere even under the trees. I planted about six weeks ago and the grass is thick and green. I am excited to see how it does through the winter and this spring.

I am surprised this grass seed is actually coming up considering the dense shade I have in my back yard.

I planted beginning of October and it was coming up in ten days. It looks hardy. I gave 4 stars because I will not know what the end result is until late next spring. I am happy so far.

This is the only grass seed I have been able to get to grow in my mostly all shady area between my garage & a row of neighbors white pines. I first planted this grass in the Spring, & it did well, but couldn’t keep it growing through the Summer. I have sown more seed now (sown 3 weeks ago), and it has come up great. I’m hoping it has the time through the Fall and Winter to grow strong roots and survive next Summer. Otherwise I will just put some ground cover in this space.

Seed came up very quickly without much water. Nice color and texture. Good shade product. Would recommend for shady areas.

better than any other expensive one. If you are looking for seeds that grow in the shade, don’t hesitate to buy it.

My front lawn was essentially dead from all the shade it gets year round. I bought the Shady Nooks seed based on the reviews I read and they are all true. This stuff works.
My lawn was all hard soil so I went to Home Depot and bought a hand tiller to loosen up the soil. I also bought some starter fertilizer. I heard its important to not use regular fertilizer because it won’t let the seeds germinate. Well I put the seed and fertilizer down and watered it pretty good after work each day. I live in Texas and it was around 90 during the afternoon so I waited til the sun was setting. Well after two days I noticed some green and thought there could be no way it was the seed I put out. I figured it was some weeds just popping up. Well today is the fourth day and the lawn all has a nice green tint where the grass is growing. It was so easy to do for someone who is a first time homebuyer looking to get their lawn growing the old fashioned way.

I put the seed down and after three weeks very little had sprouted. I over seeded again, waited another couple of weeks, and now it is moving up fairly well. I think it would be helpful for the description of the product to include the percentages of the various seed in this mixture. I was expecting a higher concentration of poa trivialis than is actually in the product. That could be why very little sprouted for me and required reseeding, since my yard is very shady and damp, perfect conditions for poa but perhaps not for other seed in the mix.

I was skeptical about this product working. Previously, the only thing that grew under my gigantic avocado tree was bamboo that spread from a neighbor’s yard. To my pleasant surprise, the grass sprouted after four days.

Grows where no other grass will grow! In the area where this seed was planted, the ground was reseeded by various Scotts brand seeds as well as by TruGreen 7 times at multiple points in the season over a period of 4 years with no germination at all. The only time seed had germinated there before was with Scotts patchmaster, and the little that did germinate was extremely fragile and completely died after germination in about 2 weeks. This seed germinated in 2 days after planting in an alley between two multiple story buildings with no direct sunlight in clay soil! Incredible. After 7 days the grass is about about an inch high and filling in better every day. Makes growing grass exciting. I thought those two ideas previously to be pretty oxymoronic. I originally thought the grass coming up so fast and thick was some kind of joke…now the joke is on me I guess since I am going to have to break out the lawnmower in another week.

This is a very good grass seed. I have a clay dirt for a backyard and this seed has grown very well. Will purchase more to fill in back yard.

Add me to the list of reviewers who had better results with Shady Nooks than other shady grass seeds! My lawn and I are in Virginia. I just ordered another bag, though this seed is much more expensive than the shady varieties available at Home Depot. It really is that much better!

I experimented with a small area on the Northwest side of my house that is constantly in shade due to the house and an adjacent conifer. I watered daily and grass was growing within a week. It has been two weeks now and the grass is a little over an inch high. I’m going to prepare and over-seed my lawn, and I will add to the review later this year.

Last year, we bought Shady Nooks and just threw it out on the ground without much in the way of preparation – and our soil isn’t that good… A mix of Georgia clay, moss, and fungus… It’s a very wooded lot. Doing such a half-hearted job, we figured it wouldn’t take or die… Lo and behold, not only did it take, it survived. I didn’t buy that much last year, as I was just kind of experimenting. I bought and used another brand of grass seed from the store in another section of the lawn. That section isn’t looking so good. So, I am going to buy more Shady Nooks and finish the job right this year.

I have a small patio backyard with little to no sun. Growing grass seemed to be impossible, nothing worked. Twice I laid sod, but with no sun died each time. I was about to give up when I found Shady Nooks seed. I researched the product and as last hope tried it. This stuff ROCKS! Not only did it grow within a week or so but I now have a great looking green backyard. Only down fall is now I have to mow it once a week… Highly recommend this item.. Will grow in the darkest dampest of places….

After clearing a grub infection from my lawn, normal grass seed fixed all the patches except in my shady areas. There, it would sprout and die. This “Shady Nook” grass is finally doing the job!