The Menu Board: How to choose the best fake grass for your project

Walking into a storeroom or browsing a website with what seems like endless options of artificial turf can be intimidating, especially for a first-timer. How do I choose the right one? What am I even looking for? I’d like turf that’s, well, green. I know that for sure.

And that’s a great start. At Purchase Green, we’ve made choosing the best fake grass for whatever project you’re working on into a science. 

The Menu Board breaks the options down into four categories:

• Application
• Traffic
• Blade Profile
• Accessories

When picking the right artificial grass, it all boils down to those four things. 

Application is the kind of project you’re working on, whether that’s installing your dream putting green, an area for your pets, a playground, a sports field, or just doing some landscaping. Knowing what the project is will be crucial to picking the best fake grass for installation.

If you are looking for artificial grass to go in your backyard, and your pets will be using the space to do their business, there are a few things we can do to eliminate odors and make clean-up easier. A big portion of this has to do with the infill you select, which we’ll discuss later, but let’s just focus on the grass itself for now. All our grasses are “pet-friendly” meaning that they drain quickly to help get rid of waste. But, a grass that is shorter in height like  Spring Fescue Pet Pro will be much easier to clean. But if you don’t have any pets using your backyard, then you won’t have to worry about the high pile height of a grass like California Native.

It’s also super important for the durability of your grass to know how much traffic will be taking place on the turf. If your project is more for aesthetics and show than for heavy activity, then a great, low-traffic choice would be something like Southwestern Sod Light. But if there are going to be kids, adults, or pets using the space a lot, a grass with outstanding memory (like a memory foam mattress) and high durability would be the best fake grass to choose; something like Spring Fescue Premier would be an excellent option.

The blade profile of the grass you choose affects a lot of aspects of how the grass will perform. One of the first things we look at is the finish of the grass, or the sheen. Simply put, how much do you want your grass to shine? Grasses with more shine can appear to have a nice morning dew on them, but if that’s not your style, de-lustered grass has a more natural look.

When shopping in-store or ordering samples online, you’ll eventually find yourself running your hands over those cuts of turf. What does it feel like? That’s what we categorize as texture; you can have turf that is more soft like Spring Rye 65 or more stiff like Vista 70.

And now we get to color! You said you wanted green, right? Again, great start. But, I have to ask, what kind of green? Our grasses come in a few different shades; olive, spring, and field are the most common.

The grass blade can be a ton of different shapes: v-shaped, wave-shaped, flat, c-shaped, hollow, double diamond, and that’s not even all! Well, gee, that just seems excessive, doesn’t it? We don’t think so. We want you to have every option to choose the best fake grass for your project, and all those different shapes have a huge impact on your grass’s performance. 

For example, willow blades (found in grasses like Playscape) combine softer and firmer blades which gives a solid mix of flexibility and strength. A grass like Eco Spring 75 has c-shaped blades that are great for reflecting away UV rays and keeping the grass cooler.

If you know that you’ll be walking on the grass or have kids or dogs that will be playing on it, keeping the grass cooler with Cool Yarn is a must. Some blade shapes divert those hot UV rays better than others; something like the Marathon – Olive grass has a u-shaped blade that excels in temperature control.

And, finally, after going through the project application, traffic, and blade profile, you’ve decided on the best fake grass for you. Take a moment, celebrate, and then back to business. Let’s talk accessories.

Any installation needs to have the right accessories to keep that grass looking and feeling its best. We have a few different infill options: silica sand, green silica sand, Zeolite, and HeroFill/MellowFill. Again, depending on the project type and your budget, you’ll find that one works better for you than the others. For example, if your pets will be using the space, using an infill that controls odors is essential. MellowFill and Zeolite are great options for pet-friendly areas.

Other accessories like seaming tape, seam glue, weed barrier, Turf Bomb cleaner, bend-a-boards, and stakes can also be purchased according to your project’s needs. We even have flags for that lovely finishing touch on your putting green!

After all of that, after all of those questions, pinpointing your needs, and considering what will work, we’ve made it. Using the Menu Board tool, we were able to find the best fake grass for you and identified the turf accessories needed to make it a long-lasting reality.

All that’s left to do is contact us either in-store, online, or over the phone and tell us about your project! We’re happy to help you find that perfect grass for whatever you’re working on!