Nara™ native turf is a great all purpose turf that can handle many conditions. It is the only general purpose native turf and is the perfect compliment for any native garden or landscape.

Nara™ Zoysia is native to Australia, from northern Queensland all the way down to Tasmania, to the centre of Australia and Adelaide. Zoysia macrantha is well suited to most parts including Perth, where it has performed very well, making it ideal for your local Australian lawn.

We are currently releasing it in the USA as well. It performs very well there and is admired for its beauty. Nara™ Zoysia is well adapted for all parts of Australia, except maybe the Alpine regions, although it can handle down to -12° Celsius in USA tests, which is colder than Canberra.

Less mowing. Based on careful research and close observations, Nara™ native turf will need about 20% less mowing than Buffalo, 35% less than Couch and 55% less than Kikuyu plus, it is faster growing than Empire™ Zoysia.

Nara™ native turf can be mown exactly how you would mow couch, Kikuyu or Buffalo. Short medium or long. In general though, it’s better to not mow too short as this will stress all lawns no matter the grass type. (Especially in drought). Another great thing about Nara™ turf is that it actually scalps less than Couch when mown.

Less Edging. Nara™ Zoysia requires less edging than Buffalo, Couch and Kikuyu, making it less invasive for the garden, although Empire™ Zoysia does require slightly less edging than Nara™ native turf.

Less Fertilising. Nara™ native turf requires only one fertilise per year. It is a Zoysia macrantha, which is only found in Australia. Overseas Zoysia types such as Empire™ (a japonica type) also only require once a year fertilising. If they are subject to a lot of wear twice a year fertilising is recommended on all Zoysia.

If you want a native low maintenance lawn, fertilise sparingly like this and mow very little. Twice per year in this case.

If you want a more lush green lawn year round, fertilise more often.

Less need to worry about future water restrictions. As Nara™ turf has vigorous deep rhizomes, it is far more drought tolerant than non rhizome grasses such as Buffalo.

In drought studies, Zoysia macrantha was found to be more drought tolerant than Buffalo and Couch turf. With Nara™ turf being the first and only commercial Zoysia macrantha, this is great news for anyone needing an extremely drought tolerant native turf. Buffalo will hold it’s colour in drought a few days longer than Nara™ native turf, but will die much quicker in a hot prolonged dry spell.

Nara™ Zoysia goes dormant in severe drought to survive. Nara™ native turf has developed extreme drought tolerance from it’s parentage. Millions of years growing in Australia’s hot dry and humid climates has made it a real drought survivor.

Nara™ Zoysia is beautiful. It is a fine textured lawn, but scalps less than Couch when mown. People choose it over Couch, Kikuyu and Buffalo on looks alone.

Nara™ native turf is a low maintenance grass that is naturally very salt tolerant. It is generally a coastal grass but has been proven to work well many hundreds of kilometres inland. Common Zoysia macrantha is very salt tolerant, so it is no surprise that Nara™ native turf has this quality as well, although Nara™ Zoysia is better watered with fresh water when possible.

In tests, Nara™ native turf had much more salt tolerance than Empire™ Zoysia, which is known for its excellent salt tolerance in comparison to other grasses. When Nara™ turf was tested and compared to a selection of common Zoysia macrantha types in breeding, it had salt tolerance at the mid to lower end of the species. Not as high as some, but still much higher than Couch, Buffalo and Empire™ turf.

This is only important because people need to know it cannot handle growing in sea water. However, growing close to the beach or on waterfront properties is not a problem. Nara™ Zoysia is the best grass for salt areas. It can handle the most salt at 24 dS/m (deci-semen/metre) over 15000 parts per million. Nara™ native turf had the best results out of all Zoysia’s in this study.

Nara™ Zoysia rarely gets disease and copes very well with humid and dry climates. In colder areas and in wet winters, like many grasses, it can occasionally develop signs of rust, but this is generally hidden amongst the leaves of a mature lawn.

Nara™ Zoysia hides rust much better than many other types, so it is a safer choice. Nara™ native turf copes well with our bugs and insects, probably because it built up immunity over the millions of years of development as a native species of Australia. A few introduced pest species and the odd native one may cause problems occasionally.

Nara™ Zoysia seems to be far more resistant to black beetle, army worm, and web worm than Couch, Kikuyu and Buffalo. All Zoysia types seem to be. But resistant does not mean immune, so it can sometimes get munched on. Again, because it has rhizomes, it will re-grow better than Buffalo.

Nara™ native turf is very good at competing with weeds. You can also use any chemicals that work with Couch. Nara™ Zoysia is much better than Buffalo with chemicals. For example, you can take out Paspalum with a selective spray.

Here’s a quick shade comparison for you. Buffalo works in 60-70% shade. Nara™ native turf works in 30-50% shade where Couch and Kikuyu only work in 15-20% shade. Nara™ Zoysia is recommended for up to 50% shade in areas with low wear and up to 30% shade in areas with moderate to high wear.

It has better wear tolerance than Buffalo, Couch and Kikuyu in full sun, although Couch and Kikuyu recover better from wear as they grow faster. In semi shade, Nara™ Zoysia has better wear tolerance than Couch and Kikuyu.

Better than Couch and many Buffalo types. Nara™ native turf browns off quicker than Palmetto®, Sapphire™ and Kikuyu which are well known for their excellent winter colour. In Western Sydney out at Richmond this year, it was dormant for about 7 weeks so, sure there are a few grasses that have better winter colour but compared to many, Nara™ turf wins out.

Nara™ Zoysia was found have excellent erosion control performance, strengthening the soil 58%, which was 10% more than empire, 38.3% more than Kikuyu, and 54.8% more than Couch. Nara™ native turf took the soil strength in the test to an estimated 105kPa.