Compare Palmetto and Sapphire

Another two contenders in the race to become Australia's dominant Buffalo grass are Sapphire and Palmetto. With Sapphire belonging to the greater Shademaster family of Buffalo grasses, which also includes Matilda and Sir Walter, and Palmetto being it's own unique grass from completely different Buffalo lawn stock.

While Palmetto is still regarded by all lawn experts as the best Buffalo in Australia due to it's high quality and low maintenance properties, Sapphire is now fast on it's heels with an entirely new set of characteristics… so let's take a look and compare Sapphire and Palmetto Buffalo grasses.

Leaf Softness and Display

The display of Sapphire Buffalo leaf presents as the finest and narrowest leafed Buffalo available in Australia, which is it's most unique characteristic amongst all Buffalo grasses. Whereas Palmetto has a traditional wider leaf most commonly associated with other Buffalo grasses.

Both Palmetto and Sapphire are true soft leaf Buffalo grasses which are soft to the touch and soft to walk across barefoot, with both grasses having been tested for leaf softness in two different independent tests we have at our disposal.

The first softness test was in Microscopic photos taken to compare barb rates amongst Buffalo grasses, and which proved both grasses equally "soft". See photos here.

The second softness test was conducted by the Sydney Royal Botanical Gardens in mid 2011, which again tested the barb rates (excessive leaf barbs cause irritation amongst Buffalo grasses that are not truly soft) on these and other popular Buffalo grasses for sale in Australia, which also found these two grasses to be true soft leaf buffalo grasses.

When it comes to Winter colour, both grasses do very well in retaining good colour depth over the colder months, but again, Palmetto won the race to retain better overall winter colour.

Shade Tolerance

All Buffalo grasses have very high shade tolerance which is far superior to lawn types such as Couch or Kikuyu which both require the highest amount of direct sunlight of all lawn types. Buffalo even has higher shade tolerance than Zoysia whose shade tolerance is also far better than Couch and Kikuyu.

However, in the race of best shade tolerance, Sapphire not only beat out Palmetto, but also beats all other Buffalo grasses for sale in Australia to become the most shade tolerant Buffalo grass in the country.

Growth Rates, Thatch and Seeding

Well it's probably best to cut to the chase with these comparisons, because no other Buffalo beats Palmetto when it comes to low maintenance, so Palmetto always wins over its competitors.

- Palmetto marginally beats out Sapphire with slightly less seeding
- Palmetto develops less thatch than Sapphire
- Palmetto is slower growing than Sapphire, meaning less mowing and maintenance.

Wear and Tear

Palmetto has greater tolerance to wear and tear over it's competitor, while Sapphire recovers from wear and tear damage more quickly than Palmetto.

Weed Sprays

Both Sapphire and Palmetto have very good tolerance to weed sprays which contain the active ingredients of either Bromoxynil or MCPA, and can therefore be treated equal in weed spray comparisons.

Just be sure to always use a weed spray which is specifically designed for safe use on Buffalo lawns. We prefer Yates Lush and Yates Buffalo Pro weed sprays for Buffalo grass weed spraying.

Conclusion Sapphire Versus Palmetto

Palmetto remains the lowest maintenance, and therefore the most environmentally friendly Buffalo grass, requiring less mowing, less edging and less thatch control, all due to it's slower and differing growth rate over it's competitors, as well as having low seeding levels. And for these reasons, this makes Palmetto the best soft leaf Buffalo grass for people who desire a low maintenance Buffalo lawn. However…

Sapphire is also near the top of the list for quality of Buffalo grass in almost every aspect tested in recent Buffalo grass research studies for Buffalo quality. With it's main advantages over Palmetto including being the best shade tolerant Buffalo in Australia, it's very fine leaf, and it's higher rate of repair after damage from wear and tear. So if your main concerns are high shade tolerance or a fine leaf Buffalo appearance, or need a Buffalo that will repair quicker than it's competitor, then Sapphire would be the preferred choice.