Why Is Couch Different in Queensland

Understanding Couch Grass In Queensland

Like so many other aspects of Australian life, prior to the onset of modern and instant communications, each region of Australia often developed it's own names for the same varieties of plants, fish, wildlife and other things which many regions share in common.

And the same is true when it comes to Couch grass.

With the introduction of Digitaria didactyla as a new lawn to Australia which was imported from South Africa, it was quickly named to Queensland Blue Couch, where it had grown and flourished under prime and optimum conditions for it's growth as a lawn.

So here we have the introduction of the name Queensland Blue Couch.

It was now grown in Queensland, it had a blue hue, and it slightly resembled Couch lawns.

Later, and due to the overwhelming popularity of this grass type, the name Queensland Blue Couch was quickly shortened in local slang to now being called just Couch by many people in the State.

Real Couch Lawn

A real Couch lawn is from an entirely different grass family altogether, and is no relation to Digitaria didactyla. Couch grass is from the family Cynodon Dactylon.

So here we have the beginnings of decades of confusion.

These days Couch has been further bred and developed into many different variants which include Greenlees Park, Winter Green, Santa Ana, Grand Prix and CynoMax, just to name a few. Yet, none of them are any relation to Queensland Blue Couch.

Queensland Green Couch

Now here comes the next part of the Couch confusion for many people in Queensland.

Because Queensland Blue Couch was now being called "Couch" - there came a problem in differentiating Queensland Blue Couch from real Couch.

After all, we cannot have two entirely different grass types being called by exactly the same name.

So in came the new names of Blue Couch and Green Couch, with Green Couch referring to real Couch.

With most people still calling Queensland Blue Couch - just "Couch".

If you're reading this and you're confused, join the club.

The Problem of Queensland Green Couch

Now comes the final problem for the people in Queensland, and it's the problem of buying Green Couch.

Everywhere else in Australia, the old style and inferior common Couch is simply referred to as Couch, and everybody knows that it is common Couch, and therefore will not purchase it over the far superior modern varieties of Couch as mentioned earlier in this article.

So common Couch is not sold anywhere in Australia except Queensland.

Where, because of it's unique name of Queensland Green Couch, it appears to be a modern and improved variant of Couch, when in fact it is not, it is just plain old common Couch which is inferior to all other modern Couch lawn types.

Now here is where the problem escalates even further.

Most grasses easily acclimatise and naturally develop into slightly different variants wherever they are grown, and this is why it is so easy for turf breeders to grow so many different types of grasses, many of which such as Sir Walter are simply natural variants of other grasses.

This means that a single town such as Geraldton, or Mt Barker, or Townsville could each contain 20 different natural variants of the same grass type. Now multiply that by all the towns and cities in Australia and we begin to see a real mess developing.

A grass being sold under an ambiguous umbrella name such as Green Couch can never be regulated, and therefore the buyer can never be sure of what they are getting when buying such a grass.

They could easily be getting a dozen different Couch types when they do buy this grass, and each turf farm could have an entirely different blend of grasses without even knowing it for themselves.

With each Green Couch lawn performing entirely differently depending on which farm it comes from.

The same problem still persists in other areas of Australia with the ongoing sale of common Kikuyu.

Solving The Problem of Green Couch

The first step to solving the problem of Green Couch and getting Queenslanders into buying a far better lawn, is education, and I think we've covered the basics here.

Next is for the people of Queensland to stop buying Green Couch and start only buying a regulated and known Couch whose characteristics are well known and researched.

As soon as the market begins to shift and change in this new direction, the turf farmers will naturally phase out their old common Couch types and adjust to the new demands from their clients, with no change to their turnovers or revenues to their business whatsoever.

Do this and and everybody wins with much better lawns for their homes!