Common Name: creeping bluegrass
Type: Turfgrass
Family: Poaceae
Zone: 4 to 9
Height: 6.00 to 12.00 feet
Spread: 6.00 to 12.00 feet
Bloom Time: Flowers freely
Bloom Description: Greenish-white
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Medium
Flower: Insignificant
Culture
Easily grown in a wide array of sun and soil conditions, but does well with regular moisture and rich soils. Intolerant of drought. This is a cool-season grass that goes dormant during the hot summer months. It will resprout from crowns when cooler, moist conditions return. Tolerates very low mowing (to 0.1") and high rates of irrigation.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Poa annua var. reptans, commonly called creeping bluegrass, is a perennial, stoloniferous grass native to Eurasia. Its distribution is now cosmopolitan, and it is considered a significant weed in turfgrass (sports fields, putting greens, etc.) and almost all major agricultural crops. The foliage is narrow and linear, reaching up to 5.5" long and around 0.1" wide. The root system is fibrous and relatively shallow. The inflorescence is a small, light colored panicle held above the foliage. Flowers and fruits nearly continuously from spring through fall. Closely related to P. annua var. annua (annual bluegrass), but differs in that annual bluegrass is a true annual with a more upright growth habit and higher seed production. Annual bluegrass tends to be more common in warmer climates.
Genus name comes from the Greek word poa meaning fodder grass.
The infraspecific epithet reptans means "creeping", and refers to the prostrate growth habit of this variety.
The specific epithet annua means "annual" and refers to annual life cycle of the parent species.
Problems
Creeping bluegrass is susceptible to most pests and diseases that affect other Poa species, including necrotic ring spot, dollar spot, summer patch, Pythium blight, leaf and crown rusts, stripe smut, melting-out, anthracnose, and brown patch.
Uses
A difficult to control and and aggressive invasive weed of turfgrass and ornamental plantings.