Ask ten Hershey homeowners what kind of grass they have and nine will say "…green?" That's a completely fair answer. But it's worth two minutes of your time to know, because the grass you have decides how short you can safely cut it — and cutting the wrong height is the single most common way people accidentally hurt their own lawn.
Here's a plain-language field guide for Central PA.
First: we're in the "transition zone," and that's the whole story
Hershey sits in what turf people call the transition zone — the awkward band across the middle of the country where it gets too hot in summer for the northern grasses and too cold in winter for the southern ones.
Practically, that means:
- We grow cool-season grasses (they do their best growing in spring and fall).
- Our summers punish them. July and August aren't growing season here — they're survival season.
- Nothing is perfectly adapted. Every Central PA lawn is a compromise.
That's not a defect in your lawn. It's geography. And once you understand it, a lot of confusing lawn advice suddenly makes sense.
The three grasses in almost every Hershey lawn
Most lawns around here aren't a single grass. They're a blend — usually seeded that way on purpose, because a mix survives better than any one type alone.
Tall fescue — the workhorse
This is the backbone of most modern Central PA lawns, and if your lawn shrugs off August, it's probably mostly fescue.
How to spot it: wider, coarser blades. Grows in clumps rather than spreading. Deep roots — which is exactly why it handles our dry Julys better than the others.
What it means for mowing: fescue wants to be tall. 3 to 4 inches. Scalp it short and you're removing the leaf surface it needs to feed those deep roots, right when it needs them most.
Kentucky bluegrass — the good-looking one
This is the grass in the lawn-care commercials. Fine texture, rich color, and it spreads — it repairs its own bare spots via underground runners.
How to spot it: narrower blades, and the tip of the blade is shaped like the front of a canoe — pinched into a little boat-shaped point. Once you see it you can't unsee it.
What it means for mowing: tolerates a bit shorter, 2.5 to 3.5 inches — but it's shallow-rooted and it's usually the first thing to go brown and crispy in a July dry spell.
Perennial ryegrass — the fast starter
Germinates in days, which is why it's in nearly every seed blend: it holds the soil while the slower grasses establish.
How to spot it: glossy, almost waxy shine on the back of the blade. If your lawn looks like it's reflecting the sun, there's rye in it.
What it means for mowing: similar to bluegrass, and it's tough — but it doesn't spread, so it thins over the years.
The 30-second identification test
Walk out and grab a single blade.
- Wide and a little rough at the edges? Tall fescue.
- Narrow, with a tiny boat-shaped tip? Kentucky bluegrass.
- Shiny on the underside? Perennial rye.
- All three, depending on where you're standing? Congratulations — you have a normal Hershey lawn.
Most people find a mix, and the mix usually isn't even. Fescue tends to win the sunny, dry, abused areas near the street. Bluegrass takes the spots that get water. That's the lawn sorting itself out.
Why any of this matters to your wallet
Because the tallest grass in your blend sets the mowing height. If your lawn is mostly tall fescue and someone mows it at 2 inches because "short looks tidy," you get:
- Brown, stressed turf two days later
- Weeds moving into the thin spots (weeds love a scalped lawn — it's sunlight on bare soil)
- A lawn that needs more water to survive the same week
That's why we cut on the taller end here, and why we won't scalp a lawn just because it makes the stripes pop for 48 hours. A lawn cut at the right height for its grass is a lawn that needs less from you.
The honest summary
You don't need to become a turf scientist. You need to know roughly which grass dominates, so the height is right and you're not fighting your own lawn every August.
If you'd rather just have someone who already knows the difference show up and handle it, that's the job. We mow at the height your grass actually wants — and because everything's all-electric, your neighbors won't hear us figuring it out.
Want a straight price for your lawn? Get a free quote in about two minutes — no charge, and no call required.