Which Buffalo Turf looks the best in Winter? This test shows which lawn had the best colour. Matilda Turf and Sir Walter perform very strongly here.
Winter Colour
For Most people Winter Colour is a very important factor when choosing the right lawn for your home. it is common for some varieties to turn brown or purple during the colder months. in this test the turf was measured using a Chromameter to gauge the Hue Angle and give a representation of the colour change in winter, to the naked eye a Hue of around 120 will look dark green and 110 would be a lighter green, 100 is getting close to a yellow/brown look.
The table below shows the average Hue angle for each cultivar in both winter and summer.
| Cultivar | Summer Hue | Winter Hue | % Colour Lost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmetto | 114 | 101 | 13% |
| Matilda | 117 | 109 | 7% |
| Sir Walter | 114 | 106 | 8% |
| Sapphire | 118 | 111 | 6% |
| Shademaster | 112 | 98 | 14% |
| ST-85 | 116 | 92 | 26% |
The above table shows that most of the cultivars loose minimal colour during winter, but when the Hue is taken into account not is all as it would seem, Palmetto is showing a hue of 101 in winter, Palmetto does hold colour reasonably well and 101 would still look green where as Shademaster is showing a Hue of 98 but Shademaster would look yellow/brown even with this difference of only 3 in the Hue angle, the visual difference is very noticeable. at the other end of the scale would be Sapphire and Matilda, both showing 6-7% colour loss, but with a Hue Angle of around the 110 mark, both of these cultivars would look greener than the likes Palmetto in the same situation. In summary all grasses listed here would be a shade of green during the winter months with the exception of ST-85 and Shademaster, some cultivars darker than others.