Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Oct 19, 2014 1:08 pm Hi, I live in Sydney and following much anguish and deliberating, we have narrowed our turf choice down to Palmetto and Sir Walter*. My question is: in terms of maintenance, can anyone please share how often they have to mow and edge Sir Walter (SW) and Palmetto? Information we currently have: Sir Walter needs mowing weekly in summer, every 3 weeks in winter Palmetto needs mowing fortnightly in summer, every 6 weeks in winter Sir Walter has worse colour in winter Palmetto holds colour better in winter Both are the same for repair and wear Please refute any of these claims (that we got from various sites and landscapers) if your experience differs. Just for your info, we have 300m^2 yard to have turfed (new lot, currently no lawn, just dirt and those m*****f****** thistles) and have been quoted $6100 for Palmetto, $5100 for Sir Walter (level and prepare ground, turf underlay/organic material, supply and install). Any idea of if this is a good price and if that should affect my decision if they're both so similar? Cheers *Please don't recommend any others. I can't go through the process again with a new contender. We've spent weeks researching and looking into the different species, but at this point, with our needs and maintenance etc., we're taking the "ignorance is bliss" point of view. Re: Sir Walter vs Palmetto mowing and maintenance 2Oct 20, 2014 11:31 am From experience, Sir Walter pretty much stops growing in Winter. You might mow it once or twice in 6 months. The repair-ability of the grass I found to be zero to none for high wear areas. Don't forget... for the "brand" you are paying a premium. Re: Sir Walter vs Palmetto mowing and maintenance 3Oct 20, 2014 12:14 pm Thanks, it's interesting you say that. I appreciate hearing a real user's point of view rather than the marketing hype that it's a fast repairing grass (and hear it's actually not). It's odd, but my Sir Walter quote was more than a grand less than the Palmetto. Re: Sir Walter vs Palmetto mowing and maintenance 4Oct 20, 2014 3:25 pm To put it in perspective, I thought two small pooches (Spoodle and Moodle) would be ok on Sir Walter in the backyard of 28m2 (about 6m and a bit by 4m and a bit). After a year I had to rip the whole area up and lay synthetic. It didn't have a chance. I asked Graham Ross from Better Homes and Garden at a recent expo about Sir Walter. He mentioned that the patent for Sir Walter will expire soon of which the price is going to plummet. He did say that there was a direct competitor to Sir Walter available but I forgot the details and I don't know if he had anything to do with that brand and was spruiking his own product. Re: Sir Walter vs Palmetto mowing and maintenance 5Oct 20, 2014 6:40 pm i have had Sir Walter in my backyard ( half at least) for 3yrs. Have had a rottweiler dog running around on it and have had no trouble at all. Does look like its dieing in winter but hey so do i Re: Sir Walter vs Palmetto mowing and maintenance 7Oct 20, 2014 8:33 pm Thanks for the replies, sounds like Sir Walter, while popular doesn't repair well or handle wear'n'tear or grow much in the winter. Does anyone know if Palmetto fares any better? The perceived lower maintenance of Palmetto has the rest of the family's vote so I wonder if this is the case in the real world??? Re: Sir Walter vs Palmetto mowing and maintenance 8Oct 20, 2014 8:52 pm Adam.M I asked Graham Ross from Better Homes and Garden at a recent expo about Sir Walter. He mentioned that the patent for Sir Walter will expire soon of which the price is going to plummet. He did say that there was a direct competitor to Sir Walter available but I forgot the details and I don't know if he had anything to do with that brand and was spruiking his own product. Don't suppose you got a timeframe when that patent is due to expire ? Could be rather handy to save a few bucks if this is indeed true. Owner Building at Jimboomba Woods in Logan City Qld. Blog : http://bandlnewhomebuild.blogspot.com H1 thread : viewtopic.php?f=38&t=68283 . Re: Sir Walter vs Palmetto mowing and maintenance 10Oct 21, 2014 9:12 am Could be talking about sapphire, it's a newish breed and I got them for $6/m2 Re: Sir Walter vs Palmetto mowing and maintenance 11Oct 21, 2014 9:20 am Is it kings pride that graham ross is talking about? If it helps any I have SW out the front, still needs mowing about once every second month in winter . repairs easy in summer not as good in winter. Had quotes of around 3200 for 160m2 this was sapphire 8.8/m2 and 2.2/m2 to lay SW at the moment is around the same price but have looked into kings pride at 7.5/m2. So don't know if price is a factor and sorry for brining other names into it also. Nothing against SW but yes you are paying for the name. Re: Sir Walter vs Palmetto mowing and maintenance 13Oct 21, 2014 1:33 pm Thanks for the input. The other grasses sound good too, but the slow summer growth of Palmetto has taken hold of my husband's heart. We're now getting quotes and he's found one who'll supply and lay for $6/m2. Now we just need someone to level the earth, spread some organic soil... we're so close to having a lawn, I can almost smell it! Re: Sir Walter vs Palmetto mowing and maintenance 15Oct 28, 2014 3:13 pm I got Palmetto for a space out the back recently and have had it before. I quite like it. We got roll on on and it covered any gaps quickly and looks green and luscious. We have mowed it twice since mid Sept and its probably due again soon. Offhand I can't recall the leaf blade of sir Walter, but I do recommend if you are still deciding to go look at both if you can, observe the colour and feel of the grass etc before making a decision. Re: Sir Walter vs Palmetto mowing and maintenance 16Nov 04, 2014 7:17 am Babycakes Hi, I live in Sydney and following much anguish and deliberating, we have narrowed our turf choice down to Palmetto and Sir Walter*. My question is: in terms of maintenance, can anyone please share how often they have to mow and edge Sir Walter (SW) and Palmetto? Information we currently have: Sir Walter needs mowing weekly in summer, every 3 weeks in winter Palmetto needs mowing fortnightly in summer, every 6 weeks in winter Sir Walter has worse colour in winter Palmetto holds colour better in winter Both are the same for repair and wear Please refute any of these claims (that we got from various sites and landscapers) if your experience differs. Just for your info, we have 300m^2 yard to have turfed (new lot, currently no lawn, just dirt and those m*****f****** thistles) and have been quoted $6100 for Palmetto, $5100 for Sir Walter (level and prepare ground, turf underlay/organic material, supply and install). Any idea of if this is a good price and if that should affect my decision if they're both so similar? Cheers *Please don't recommend any others. I can't go through the process again with a new contender. We've spent weeks researching and looking into the different species, but at this point, with our needs and maintenance etc., we're taking the "ignorance is bliss" point of view. We just recently turned our new house - very similar sizing. We used buffalo sapphire. Lots of landscapers we spoke to said they think it is just as good as the sir walter. Our top soil cost $1100 and our turfing cost $2200. We (my dad) did all the site prep and laying that's where we saved $$. Re: Sir Walter vs Palmetto mowing and maintenance 17Nov 04, 2014 7:24 am Update: We're going with Palmetto and having the land prepped (leveled/scraped), topsoil and turf supplied and laid. I'll take some before and after shots to show how it went. We're also putting turf grid (Grasscel) on the grass next to the driveway because I occasionally cut my corners when parking and it'll protect the grass from getting those muddy compaction dips. Next step, sprinklers! Re: Sir Walter vs Palmetto mowing and maintenance 18Nov 16, 2014 8:17 am We have Sapphire in our back yard, and have just laid it (yesterday) in our front yard. We chose it for it's superior shade tolerance, we have a lot of deep shade in our yard due to large trees. It's performing incredibly well, even under the trees. It's a lot softer than the Sir Walter we've seen, and it's very thick and lush all year round. It stays very green in winter but stops growing, no mowing at all in winter. But oh boy does it grow in summer, if you don't want to have to mow at least every 2 weeks I can't blame you for choosing another variety! Re: Sir Walter vs Palmetto mowing and maintenance 19Nov 16, 2014 9:44 pm In various parts of the garden, because of the different periods the lawns were laid, we have Sapphire, Sir Walter and Kings Pride. Have to say I like Kings Pride the best, although it's a more frequent mowing (much like Sir Walter). Has colonised an area of rock where we left turf cut out from the area we were decking; all we did was just top dressed it every few months, and we now have a new patch of lawn. Looks dried out in extreme heat, but bounces back with watering. This lawn was laid over an area we leveled out, and has been going for 7 years. Sapphire was good initially, but thinned out too much in high traffic areas, and isn't as thick growing (ie internode distance further). But I'm not sure if that's because it's more in the shade. Sir Walter tends to form lots of flower spikes, which spoils the look of the lawn. Much better performing in the area we have it as a replacement for the Sapphire, but it's under a year old. Re: Sir Walter vs Palmetto mowing and maintenance 20Nov 19, 2014 1:32 pm UPDATE: We picked a company to go with and the works have begun. I have to say, I am not too impressed. I will say that the leveling and clearing up of the site and laying soil was good, I am happy with that (see pic above). What I am not happy with: (1) we were told after we had the site all cleared that the grass we selected, Palmetto, was "not looking the best" at the moment and so they are suggesting Sapphire instead (which we now have to take). They knew we wanted Palmetto, so they should have told us about any supplying difficulties before they began, rather than after they had cleared the site. Their CS rep kept telling me, "look, I'm going to be honest with you" before she said anything, which is a pet peeve of mine (I assume you're honest with me, when you point it out I just think you're suspicious... anyway). I also don't want to take the Palmetto in the hopes it improves because if it's so hardy, how did it get yellow in the first place? I looked at pics she sent, they looked fine, but the Sapphire was definitely greener. (2) The site was cleared by Monday lunchtime, the grass is being installed Thursday morning. I think it's too long in between especially if it's windy or rains. Hasn't happened yet, but I expected this to be organised and all done on one day. I wouldn't recommend this company. Other comments: the turf underlay seems too sandy and not too nutrient rich. I was picturing something black, or at least darker than what we got. I think the sandy underlay is very good for our clay soil, give some space for the grass to grow. 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