Shade-tolerant lawn: this is how it can grow
Even if the lighting conditions in your garden are not the best, shade-tolerant lawns give you good prospects for a grassed area. Find out what you need to pay attention to.
21.11.2025
Overview: Shade-tolerant lawn
- Shade-tolerant lawn needs three to four hours of sun per day to stay healthy
- Special lawn seed mixes are required to create a shade-tolerant lawn
- Do not mow shade-tolerant lawn too short: 5–6 cm is ideal
- Shade-tolerant lawn grows more slowly and requires less mowing than sunny lawns
- Scarify and sow every year so that shade-tolerant lawn grows densely
Shade-tolerant lawn should be used if you want to create a grassed area that is not in full sun. Special mixes with shade-tolerant lawn seeds also grow in semi-shade.
Shade-tolerant lawn does not grow as quickly as lawns that get better light. However, the rate of growth also depends on the seed used and the soil and moisture conditions.
Yes, you can also sow shade-tolerant lawn in the sun. Seed mixes for shade-tolerant lawn contain sun and shade-compatible grass varieties and require 3 to 4 hours of sun per day to stay healthy. However, it makes no sense to sow shade-tolerant lawn on areas that get all-day sun.
If your lawn is not growing in the shade, you can use this area to sow special shade-tolerant lawn seeds that grow even in low sunlight (three to four hours a day). However, if the area gets virtually no sun, shade-tolerant shrubs or ground covers such as ivy are better suited to get some green in your garden.
What is shade-tolerant lawn?
Almost every garden has areas that are shaded by trees, shrubs or buildings during the day. Lawn does not grow into a lush grassed area in the shade because the light output for the lawn grass is far too low.
Shade-tolerant lawn, on the other hand, is a lawn seed mix made from special types of grass that grow even in less light. But even a shade-tolerant lawn needs some sunshine. That’s why this type of lawn is best suited for semi-shaded areas or areas with light shade. But what exactly does this mean and what are the requirements for a healthy shade-tolerant lawn?
Requirements for beautiful shade-tolerant lawn
Even if the name suggests something else, shade-tolerant lawn does not grow in full shade. It needs a minimum amount of sunlight to grow – three to four hours a day. This amount of light can be achieved in semi-shade.
Semi-shaded areas are areas in the garden that are exposed to full sun for about half a day and the rest of the time are in shade. Shade-tolerant lawn therefore won’t die in the sun, as you might think, it just doesn't need as much of it.
Due to the higher air and soil moisture in shady areas, more moss grows in a shade-tolerant lawn than on sunnier lawns. This can be remedied by annual scarifying and subsequent reseeding in order to obtain the densest possible sward.
Soil that is too moist is a problem for shade-tolerant lawn, especially if there is waterlogging. You can counteract this when laying the lawn by loosening and preparing the soil well.
Surprisingly, however, there are often problems with soil that is too dry when it comes to shade-tolerant lawn, for example, when the dense leaves of trees barely let rain through. As trees with a shallow root system, coniferous trees near the area of the shade-tolerant lawn compete with lawn grass for water and nutrients. Deciduous trees also remove moisture from the soil during leaf growth, which the lawn grass needs. So, make sure to regularly check whether your shade-tolerant lawn requires sprinkling.
The best shade-tolerant lawn seeds
Whether ornamental lawns, sports and playground lawns, heat-tolerant lawns and poverty grass or even shade-tolerant lawns: the right lawn seed mixes of different grass types are available for every type of use or site conditions.
Shade-tolerant lawn mixes also always contain grass types that are suitable for sunny lawns, such as perennial ryegrass, common meadow-grass and red fescue. These are supplemented by both shade-compatible lawn seeds and those that require little nutrients, can withstand dryness and quickly germinate. Poa supina should be included in all shade-tolerant lawn seed mixes. It is one of the lawn seeds that can tolerate both shade and sun.
Shade-tolerant lawn mixes also contain grass types for sunny areas
These types of grass are best suited as shade-tolerant lawn seeds:
- Poa supina
- Tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia cespitosa)
- Ordinary red fescue (Festuca rubra)
- Hard fescue (Festuca ovina duriuscula)
- Sheep fescue (Festuca trachyphylla)
- German perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne):
- Common meadow-grass (Poa pratensis)
Sowing shade-tolerant lawn: when and how?
If you want to lay a shade-tolerant lawn, the best time to sow is in spring, when temperatures reach 8 to 10°C and trees and shrubs have not yet cast shade on the lawn with their leaves. After sowing, the young shade-tolerant grasses need as much sunlight as possible to germinate quickly, just like all lawn seeds.
Over the summer and autumn, the shade-tolerant lawn then has time to take root well. This makes it more resistant to diseases, frost and moisture than a shade-tolerant lawn sown in autumn.
If you have obtained the right shade-tolerant lawn seeds, proceed as described in detail in our Laying a lawn guide when preparing the soil and sowing the shade-tolerant lawn seeds. Pay particular attention to loosening and treating the soil to prevent waterlogging and the associated risk of increased moss formation.
It is particularly important that you water the young shade-tolerant lawn adequately. Even if the soil retains moisture better in less sunny areas, shallow-rooted coniferous trees and deciduous trees on the young lawn in spring take so much moisture from the soil that not much is left for the grass plants.
Reseeding: best after scarifying
As with seeding, you should also tackle the reseeding of the shade-tolerant lawn in spring rather than in autumn due to the better growing conditions. You can combine reseeding with scarifying, after which many bare patches usually appear in the shade-tolerant lawn. You should close these as quickly as possible so that moss and weeds have less chance of filling the gaps.
Mowing, fertilising and maintaining shade-tolerant lawns
In order for a lawn to grow into a dense and beautiful sward in the shade, it needs a little more care than sunny lawn types. Also bear in mind that shade-tolerant lawn takes longer to regenerate due to the poorer light conditions if the area has been used intensively and subjected to a lot of stress. With the right lawn care in winter, your shade-tolerant lawn can recover and grow healthily in the spring.
Proper lawn mowing is also important for the healthy growth of shade-tolerant lawns. An advantage of slow-growing shade-tolerant lawns is that they don't need to be mowed as frequently as sun-soaked lawns. Mow shade-tolerant lawns regularly about once a week, but not as short as other types of lawn. With a cutting height of five to six centimetres, the shade-tolerant grass has more leaf surface area to absorb the much-needed sunlight. You should remove the grass clippings immediately for the same reason.
In order for shade-tolerant lawn to absorb nutrients as well as possible, you should fertilise in spring before trees and shrubs near the lawn let in too little light with their leaves. After that, fertilising your shade-tolerant lawn does not differ from general lawn fertilisation. Around September is the last time you fertilise, preferably with a potassium-rich fertiliser that improves the hardiness of the lawn and prevents diseases.
As moss is often found in shade-tolerant lawns in particular, you should scarify the lawn once a year in spring. This removes unwanted vegetation and ensures better ventilation of the soil.
If the shade-tolerant lawn is under deciduous trees, you should remove the fallen leaves from the area once or twice a week in autumn to improve air circulation.
Alternatives to shade-tolerant lawn
Even with the above-mentioned care measures, there is no absolute guarantee that your shade-tolerant lawn will grow into a luscious grassed area. If you want to add green to very dark, fully shaded garden areas, shade-loving ground covers or shrubs are the more natural and easy-care choices.
