Registration of Turf‐Type Kentucky Bluegrass Cultivars ‘Awesome’, ‘Blue Velvet’, ‘Courtyard’, ‘Ginney’, and ‘Perfection’

Abstract

Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) is typically grown in multiple‐cultivar blends for golf‐course, sports‐field, lawn, and landscape surfaces. This article describes the breeding and development of five cultivars, all sharing the common trait of tolerance to low mowing heights. ‘Awesome’ (Reg. No. CV‐96, PI 632299), ‘Blue Velvet’ (Reg. No. CV‐98, PI 635049), ‘Courtyard’ (Reg. No. CV‐97, PI 635048), ‘Ginney’(Reg. No. CV‐99, PI 634980), and ‘Perfection’ (Reg. No. CV‐95, PI 632298) are seed‐propagated, single‐clone, apomictic cultivars with minor, but measurable, differences in morphology. Awesome, Blue Velvet, Courtyard, and Perfection were developed from a hybrid cross between ‘Limousine’ and ‘Midnight’ Kentucky bluegrass. Ginney was developed from a hybrid cross between ‘Julia’ and Limousine. All five cultivars are classified as late in reproductive maturity. They are resistant to dollar spot (caused by Sclerotinia homoeocarpa F.T. Bennett), warm‐weather brown patch (caused by Rhizoctonia solani Kühn), and summer patch (caused by Magnaporthe poae Landschoot & Jackson). Awesome, Blue Velvet, Courtyard, Ginney, and Perfection are recommended for golf‐course tees, fairways, and roughs and for lawns, parks, and sports turf, in full sun or partial shade, and in areas where Kentucky bluegrass is well adapted for turf. They are compatible in blends and mixtures with other cool‐season turfgrasses at mowing heights as low as 13 mm.