Kikuyu or Buffalo: Which Lawn Suits a Melbourne Backyard?
We lay instant turf across Melbourne's south east, and we've spent over 10 years in landscaping and turf work at New Era Landscapes. Once you've ruled out the rest, it usually comes down to kikuyu or buffalo, so here's the honest version, factor by factor.
Choose buffalo if your yard gets shade for part of the day or you'd rather mow less. Choose kikuyu if the lawn sits in full sun and takes heavy wear from kids or dogs. Kikuyu is cheaper and repairs itself faster, but it spreads into garden beds. Buffalo is softer, slower growing and copes with shade.
Side by side
Kikuyu vs Buffalo, Compared
Kikuyu and buffalo are both warm-season grasses, so they both grow hard in summer and slow down in winter. Where they differ is shade, wear, mowing and how badly they want to live in your garden beds. You'll usually know which one you need by the second row of this table.
| Factor | Buffalo | Kikuyu | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shade | Copes with about three to four hours of direct sun | Performs poorly in shade | Bunnings, BHG |
| Wear | Moderate, fine for kids and a dog | Handles wear exceptionally well | Garden Clinic, BHG |
| Repair | Takes longer to recover | Regenerates quickly | BHG, Canstar Blue |
| Mowing | Grows slowly, so less often | Every seven to ten days in summer | BHG |
| Garden beds | Less invasive | Creeps under edging into beds | BHG |
| Winter colour | Holds colour moderately | Stays greener than most warm-season grasses | BHG |
| Cost | Usually dearer to buy | Generally cheaper, establishes faster | BHG |
| Seed or turf | Turf rolls only | Common kikuyu by seed or turf | Bunnings |
Most of the time you're not choosing the better grass. You're choosing which problem you'd rather live with: shade that kikuyu won't tolerate, or wear that buffalo is slow to forgive.
Buffalo
When Is Buffalo Turf the Right Call in Melbourne?
Buffalo turf is the right call in Melbourne whenever part of your lawn sits in shade. Bunnings puts buffalo at about three to four hours of direct sun a day, which covers a lot of suburban yards with a tall fence on one side and a neighbour's second storey on the other.
It's also the one if you don't love mowing. Buffalo grows more slowly, so you'll mow less often through summer, and the modern soft-leaf types are kind to bare feet. If you've got small kids rolling around on it, you'll notice the difference from older, scratchier buffalo straight away.
The trade-off is repair. Buffalo takes longer to recover from damage, so a worn path along the fence line or a patch the dog's adopted will stay worn for a while.
Kikuyu
When Is Kikuyu the Better Choice?
Kikuyu is the better choice in full sun where a lawn gets used hard. It handles wear exceptionally well, it's highly drought-tolerant once it's in, and it regenerates fast when it's worn out. If your backyard is a footy ground three afternoons a week, kikuyu is the grass that'll still be there on Friday.
It's also generally cheaper and quicker to establish, which matters if you're covering a big block. And it stays greener in winter than most warm-season grasses.
What you pay for that toughness is time. BHG suggests mowing kikuyu every seven to ten days in summer, so if you're the type who mows when the neighbours start dropping hints, you'll be dropping hints to yourself.
Edges
Will Kikuyu Get Into Your Garden Beds?
Yes, if you let it. Kikuyu spreads by runners, and an expert quoted in Better Homes and Gardens warns it "can creep under edging and barriers to invade garden beds and is hard to get rid of". Garden Clinic says the same thing more bluntly: its roots are known for overtaking gardens and veggie plots.
So if you choose kikuyu, the edge between the lawn and every bed is part of the lawn, not an afterthought. We build that edge as part of the job, because a kikuyu lawn without one is just a garden bed that hasn't been invaded yet.
Buffalo is far better behaved. Newer soft-leaf types are less invasive, which is half the reason they're so popular in yards with a lot of planting.
Sir Walter
Is Sir Walter Buffalo Turf a Good Choice in Melbourne?
Sir Walter buffalo turf is a good choice in Melbourne for most family backyards, and it's the soft-leaf buffalo you'll hear named most. Garden Clinic describes it as having high shade and drought tolerance and calls it pet-friendly and low maintenance.
Where we'd steer you away from it is a lawn that's in blazing sun all day and gets hammered. It'll cope, but kikuyu or a hybrid couch will look better doing it. You can only buy it as turf, so it goes down as an instant lawn, which suits most of the yards we build anyway.
The other question
TifTuf vs Sir Walter: Which Is Better?
TifTuf is better in full sun, on sandy soil and where you want to use less water. Sir Walter is better where there's shade or you want to mow less. TifTuf is a hybrid couch bred at the University of Georgia, which reports it uses up to 38% less water than its earlier varieties.
That 38% is the breeders measuring against their own older grasses, so treat it as a best case. On a sandy bayside block it still makes a real difference to how often you're out there with the hose. Couch's weak spot is shade: Garden Clinic puts it at about half-shade tolerance, well short of buffalo.
Winter
How Do Kikuyu and Buffalo Handle a Melbourne Winter?
Both slow down once the soil cools, because both are warm-season grasses. Kikuyu stays greener than most, though warm-season lawns in Melbourne can still turn straw-brown through June to August. That's dormancy, not death, and both come back in spring.
If a green lawn in July matters to you more than anything else on this list, neither of these is your grass. Tall fescue is, and our guide to the best turf for Melbourne covers it alongside the rest.
From the field
What We'd Ask You Before You Choose
I'd rather ask you four questions than give you a favourite grass. Your answers pick the lawn, usually in under a minute.
- How many hours of direct sun does the middle of the lawn get? Under about four, and you're in buffalo territory whatever you had in mind.
- Who's using it? A lawn for looking at and a lawn for a kelpie are two different lawns.
- How much planting borders it? Lots of beds and a love of tidy edges point away from kikuyu.
- How often will you mow? Honestly. Nobody's checking.
Whichever you choose, the ground underneath decides how it looks in two years. We strip, grade, top up and roll before a single roll goes down. If you want the price side of the decision, our guide to what turf costs in Melbourne breaks it down.
Questions
Kikuyu and Buffalo Questions
Is kikuyu or buffalo better for a Melbourne backyard?
Buffalo is better if any of the yard is shaded or you want to mow less. Kikuyu is better in full sun where the lawn takes heavy wear from kids or dogs. Kikuyu is cheaper and repairs faster, but it spreads into garden beds unless they're edged properly.
Is buffalo or kikuyu better for dogs?
Kikuyu stands up to a digging, running dog better because it handles wear well and repairs itself quickly. Buffalo copes with a dog too, and it's softer underfoot, but worn patches take longer to fill back in.
Which is better, TifTuf or Sir Walter?
TifTuf suits full sun, sandy soil and tight water, and its breeders report it uses up to 38% less water than earlier varieties. Sir Walter suits yards with some shade and owners who'd rather mow less.
Will kikuyu take over my garden beds?
It will try. Kikuyu spreads by runners above and below the ground, and it can creep under edging into beds. A deep, solid edge between the lawn and every bed is what keeps it out.
Does buffalo go brown in a Melbourne winter?
It slows down and can lose some colour once the soil cools, like every warm-season grass. It holds its colour better than couch. If a green winter matters most, tall fescue is the grass to look at instead.
Laying a New Lawn in Melbourne?
The table narrows it down. A site visit settles it, because we can see where the shade really falls and how close your beds sit to the lawn.
Our turf installation in Melbourne covers the preparation, the laying and the edging, with irrigation underneath if you want it. Quotes are free, measured on site and itemised.
Written by Jono O'Brien, who runs New Era Landscapes and has been in landscaping and turf renovation for over ten years. You can talk to him directly about your yard.
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