Black Beauty® Original Grass Seed - Drought Tolerant Tall Fescue Turf (2024)

4/5

Last year i bought this grass seed and did great it and germinated quick and was nice and green but during this summer heat in Texas it went dormant or died, I tried to make it last through the summer adding stress blend fertilizer but didn’t see any signs of surviving and I know this is a cool season grass type but i will continue to buy this cause i rather be down for 2 months vs other grass types that are down for then 2 months .

5/5

I did a lot of research and finally decided on JG original for over seeding my lawn this fall. I’m extremely happy that I did. I followed the instructions, got good seed to soil contact, and was committed to making sure the seeds got the proper watering for the first 2 weeks. I’m blown away and amazed at how green and thick my lawn is now. I get compliments from my neighbors all the time. It literally stands out compared to all the other yards. Thank you Thank you Thank you…JG

5/5

Love this grass!! First time using this brand and I have at least 3-5 folks in the neighborhood for the last 3 weeks asking me what brand is the grass and how green it looks!

5/5

First you need to know the soil before you try and start a great lawn test the soil weeds love certain soil types and weeds will win if you dont properly do this. Test soil ph levels and so on then get what you need to make soil perfect for grass growth. Dethatch and aeroate and clean it all up then starter fertilizer then seed then water. If you have alot of weeds treat them first wait 3 weeks before seeding. When getting rid of weeds treat it when the yard is wet so the weed killer granules stick to the weeds. I use a sprinkler with injection tank and I use fish emulsion to help rejuvenate the soil multiple times a season.

1/5

5/5

I dethatched the entire yard, core aerated the entire yard, applied Tenacity and Speed Zone to kill weeds, put down seed, then put down starter fertilizer. This was in early May, in New England, so a spring over seed. The lawn looks 100% better than last year, 1 month later. The plan is to do it all again in the fall and never allow the weeds to take control of the yard, through my neglect, again. Very impressed with the grass that has grown so far.

3/5

I dethatched and overseeded last fall with this seed. The tall fescue is really nice with very fine blades and very dark green color. However, I had a LOT of weeds this spring (much more than usual). Mostly wild onion and orchard grass. I\’ve never had these in my yard until this year. I\’m a bit disappointed.

5/5

I have tried like every brand, Scott’s, Pennington, even that Vigero stuff. Every other seed had issue with poor germination, poor drought tolerance, water saving fillers that took up half the weight of the bag, poor disease tolerance. I used this Black Beauty last fall (2019) because it was the only thing left in this little country hardware store. It’s the best grass I have ever planted in my life (I’m 42). It’s so impressive I took to the internet to see if other felt the same and apparently they do. I will be buying this every time I need seed for now on, even if that means buying in advance online. I haven’t seen it anyplace around here this year. I think Scott’s and Pennington sell poor seed on purpose so they can stay in business from everybody having to buy it over and over at Home Depot and Lowe’s. Black Beauty is once and done. It’s almost to good to be true.

5/5

I had some bare spots all over my large lawn(120 ft x 240 ft) thanks to a large crop of weeds last year and a large “crop” of raccoons. This seed germinates well and the grass is beautiful, thick and great to look at. I’ve tried lots of seeds in the past but none were as nice as Black Beauty. Plan to get more to keep on hand.

3/5

This is the first time I have re seeded my last(last fall). It’s now the end of May, and there are so much weeds, just like before. I cut the grass high(doesn’t remove much) but I’m afraid to cut too low. The temperature has been cold most of the spring, so hoping to see more growth in June. Applied Magi-Cal this week. Since I’m new at this, I hope I’m doing all this correctly.

5/5

This website it’s absolutely not user-friendly it should be easy to buy a product, this site it’s nearly impossible!!! It’s nothing wrong with the product but this is my only way of giving feed back, I shop on line everyday!

5/5

It was awesome just like before this is my third time ordering Black Beauty.

5/5

Grass grew slow steady and thick….many noticed and asked what kind and where I got it from.

5/5

The grass came up beautifully. Very happy did fall planting hope all is good for next spring! The grass is awesome.

4/5

Good product, lush green lawn

5/5

Excellent grass seed!

5/5

Great grass seed mix. Goes very far, and results are very fast. Used this with great success in areas that have never been able to grow grass.

5/5

Grass is growing very well so far it has been about seven days with watering one or two times a day will review more once the grass has established more so far so good

5/5

Had to dethach my yard due to a lot of chemical burn from Trugreen service so I cancel my contract after 1 year and 9 months, I put down this, 2 bag of Jonathan Green 10315 Black Beauty Grass Seed Mix, 25-Pound and normal watering everyday 2 min. in the morning , 2 min. in the high noon, and 2 min. in the evening and 4 week late my yard is so plush and green with the best grass I can ever imagine, man I so impress that I had to drop a tear.

5/5

Seedlings were over an inch tall after 2 weeks. I spread them around in October when the temp range was 69-82F with plenty of rain.

5/5

My grass looks great, used for reseeding, and bear spots.

5/5

Planted in spring in Texas, the spring was a wet one. The summer was dry and the grass that started well turned brown and stayed that way for several weeks. Then rain came in late August and most of the grass came back strong.

4/5

Worked in some places and not in others

5/5

Grew great!

5/5

We had a few areas where we needed new lawn. After trying a dozen or so other varieties through the years, often with mixed results, I wanted to try something different so I went with Jonathan Green Original.
The first, and largest area, was where we once had over 40 trees removed in early 2018. It is a large area and has steep slopes. The second area was in the front of the house where we had to dig up our below-grade wellhead to replace the well pump. I planted the seed on Easter Day this year (2019) using a commercial over-seeder for both locations. I used Scott’s starter fertilizer in all of the locations. It was a cold, rainy and mostly cloudy spring here in Connecticut. Germination took over 20 days. I even had the water sprinklers going three times a day for 15 minutes each time. I admit I was getting worried, but was thrilled when I saw some shoots coming up. After the grass germinated, it took nearly 6 weeks before it was high enough to mow it. I attribute that to the lousy weather and colder than average days.
I am now into early July. The old grass in the front, over the well (as you can see in the photo with the dark green patch and the lighter green grass all around it) has not been fertilized since Easter. There is a MAJOR difference between the J Green grass and the old lawn around it. The new grass is darker. It stays upright even after driving over it with my Kubota. It is much more draught tolerant as it’s still healthy even as the original grass around it is wilting in the July heat. The lawn in the back is the same. Thick, dark green and healthy.
The soil in the back yard is interesting. There are areas where there were thick beds of stump material from stump grinding and it’s kind of spongy. There are areas where the soil is in fact “top soil” with no sand, but it’s hard and compacted. And then there are areas with a high percentage of mixed in wood chips. As the arborists used a wood chipper to chip up the ten foot high pile of trees, I had a large pile of wood chips leftover. I knew I was taking a risk, but I spread those chips in the lowest area to raise it up a bit. The grass is growing well in all of the soil types, except the area raised with wood chips. I am not surprised really, and will spread compost over the top to revitalize it a bit. This is a perfect example of how the health of your soil is directly attributed to the health of your grass!
I am very pleased. So much so that I may kill off the old lawn and restart completely with Jonathan Green. If I could give this seed an 11 I would!

5/5

Nice product quality, cost and timeliness

5/5

I highly recommend the grass seed. I used miss to aid in the germination and growth. The results are great

5/5

First time making a lawn and using this seed. I used 2 50lb bags for a new construction 7,000sqft lawn in the Olympic Peninsula of WA state. I learned I should’ve used a preemergent like Tenacity at the time of seeding since I used compost as a base and the weeds took off at first. However, after about 8 weeks the grass thickened up so much that I hardly notice the weeds. I’ve already mowed 3 times since week 5 and this weekend I’ll be spot spraying with 24d to clear out the weeds. This grass is a super thick, super dark green, super soft grass. I can’t wait for lawn games with the kids.
All the other grasses in the neighborhood are already showing signs of heat stress and this stuff looks like it’ll keep on staying green with out fertilizer all summer. I’m so happy with this grass, I have 100,000 more sqft of lawn I’m going to try this on at different homes in my neighborhood. I’ll be buying a lot more Jonathan Green.

5/5

So I’m going to share my review with this product and all I need to say is I’m speechless. I planted on May 4 and now it’s the 19th I have the best lawn ever. This stuff is a whole different level of amazing. My neighbors have come over and asked me what I did and it it’s quiet simple. PUT EFFORT INTO WHAT YOU WANT. This grass seed is definitely worth every penny and then some . I live in northern Virginia and this stuff took off like wild fire. It took two weeks for it to be amazing back yard looks the same.

5/5

Very satifies with the results this year.

5/5

Took about 2 weeks to sprout. Looking good so far.

5/5

Sprouts in 7-10 days. I have apparently 100% sprouting. Satisfied.

5/5

Two weeks and hello black beauty!

5/5

Hard to grow grass in clay. Its growing.

5/5

5/5

Good product

4/5

Drought tolerant, beautiful lawn. Overseeded an existing lawn, but saw much better performance this past year. Hoping this spring is even better after a year of growth.

5/5

This grass has been impressive, it look great and has held up well under stressful conditions.

5/5

Only grass that’s ever grown for me.

5/5

So far so good. I planted in the fall over a month before the first freeze. The grass germinated in about a weeks since the temperatures were still around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. I got this grass because it is supposed to be drought-resistant and in those locations where the sun shines almost all day other grasses have dried up and blown away, even here in New England, and with faithful watering. I also had good soil from a nursery spread, and that is essential for results.
I liked it so much that I bought the 20 pound bag. However, I was too late in the season for it to grow as intensely as the first test bag. The real test will be next summer, however…

5/5

Fast growing 5 weeks 5 inches. Looks great

5/5

Takes a while to establish/grow, but suoer nice when it takes.

5/5

We decided to reseed our entire lawn( 6,500 sq.ft. ). This product is great because it’s a roots go deep and the color is a beautiful rich golf course green. It took 2 weeks to see real growth but after about amonth, our lawn is lush and gorgeous.

5/5

All I can say is this is the best grass seed that I have ever purchased.

5/5

These seeds are phenomenal because I did little prep and they still grew. Most were up in less than 7 days. The remainder were up in about 10 days. My project originally was classified as reseeding but I really should’ve been doing whole lawn replacement. So given the dispersment volume, my coverage is very good (that is to say a large percentage of what I laid down actually rooted and grew). I’ll do more this spring and next fall but I’m very impressed with the seeds.

5/5

Despite some negative reviews, I bought this Black Beauty (original) and wanted to give it a try for my back yard where 99% of grass is dead (a new lawn installed in Sep 2017 only by lawn installation company). Seeded on Saturday evening (Sep 15, 2018) and germinated on Thursday morning (Sep 20, 2018) at about a quarter inch height. The germination rate looks very high.
Here is a summary. I am a complete novice in gardening and lawn caring. I hope this could be helpful for anyone who is going to buy the same product or similar products to repair their lawn.
1. Location: Lansing, Michigan (Zone 5B).
2. Removed dead grass and scarified (-10mm) the soil using a lawn de-thatcher one day before reseeding on Sep 14, 2018.
3. Spread the grass seeds using Scotts hand held electric seed spreader (about 5 and 3/4 setting).
4. After spreading the seeds, covered the seeds with lawn soil and peat moss. I tried both in the beginning and realized that peat moss can cover about 5 times more area than lawn soil so I went for peat moss for the remaining lawn. I also tried two brands of peat moss. There is one brand of Peat Moss sold in Lowes (Canadian made) which is 3 cubic feet but since it is a compressed package, it can expand to about 6 cubic feet once un-packaged. I personally liked this brand. I didn’t pay attention to the thickness of applying peat moss but I think it’s about a quarter inch thick till you cannot see the seeds anymore. I didn’t apply too much peat moss because I was afraid that it might choke the seeds.
5. Watered one hour on Saturday evening immediately after applying peat moss and lawn soil. Then watered twice a day (30 minutes each time), once at 9am and once at 3pm.
6. The temperature from Seeding (Sep 15, 2018) to Germinating (Sep 20, 2018) is constant at about 60 lowest to 89 highest all the time. Sunny and hot weather from Sep 15 to Sep 18. Then thunderstorm and cloudy on Sep 19 and 20.
7. The lawn repaired in my backyard gets sunshine from sunrise to sunset. Guess that’s why 99% of grass died this summer.
I sincerely hope my humble experience could be useful.
Uploaded photos on Oct 14, 2018 to update the process of the development of the lawn.

5/5

what does seed to fill in animal wear and tear on our yard it grew and quick grew in thick and grew and beautiful what else can I say

4/5

Excellent product!

4/5

As expensive as this is I expected better results from description…. maybe stick with the cheaper products I guess

4/5

This seed came up nicely during the Spring.