Jonathan Green (10315) Black Beauty Original Grass Seed Blend - Cool Season Lawn Seed (25 lb)

This is the best brand. If it fails for you, you'll need to verify your seed is correct for climate & that your soil isn't the issue. You can stick a seed on top of a rock & it would grow. It's that good, period.

Great seed. Fescue growth is excellent. Quantity of seed and growth advertised make this an excellent choice.

We planted this seed in late April after a construction project. We had to seed a very large portion of our backyard. So far we are very happy with the results after only two weeks. We were very lucky to have rain daily for almost 10 days straight.

I planted 50 pounds of seed in a relatively large area last fall. The soil is gently sloping, facing south, and pretty sandy. We get occasional pickup traffic through the bottom portion of what is seeded. I'm in zone 7a (maybe 7b now?)The city destroyed my yard doing some "easement" work (which means they can break whatever they feel like and then fight with the homeowners and lowball repair estimates for repair work. They offered me $3,000 and I had a quote from a landscaper for $14,000. For anyone reading this, stick to your guns rather than accepting their first offer. It took over a year to get a fair resolution, but we did eventually get at least a decent compensation package). They finally finished what they were doing last summer so it was time to get my yard back. Part of the agreement I made with them was that they needed to truck in new topsoil and level everything (mine mostly got pushed into a canyon during their project). I was assured it was "nice" topsoil - immediately debunked by the crazy number of large rocks present, this spring I'm even more disappointed in the city.Fall 2023: Once the city finished laying and leveling new soil, I planted 50 pounds of this seed. I think I planted in early September or maybe late August. I applied granulated starter fertilizer at the time of planting, and another 1/2 dose about 3 weeks later. The soil was undisturbed and no plants were growing at time of planting. I broadcast the seed and gently raked into the soil. I have automatic sprinklers which ran for 13 minutes, 4 times daily for the next 3 weeks as the seed germinated and started growing. Unfortunately the first day after laying seed I discovered my sprinklers weren't turning off and found a rock had wedged inside the sprinkler valve. The sprinklers ran for at least a few hours before I realized what was going on and it probably caused some of the seed to wash down the sloped planting area. What came up was nice green blades, but in a kind of linear pattern (I think seed washed down and got stuck in the areas I may have raked a bit deeper), so I didn't get a uniform germination.Winter 2023: we had a nice warm fall and grass stayed green well into november. It still looked pretty patchy with linear bald areas present. The winter was pretty mild as well, so I was hopeful for a nice green-up this spring.Spring 2024: it's apparent as things are waking up from winter that there is significant weed pressure from my "nice new soil"; there are dozens of stands of crab grass germinating and a few other weeds that I haven't yet identified. I don't believe this weed pressure is from the grass seed. I'd say about 75% of my grass survived the winter - for whatever reason the steeper portions of the hillside had significant die-off and where the hill levels off near the bottom I'm seeing nearly 100% survival. The grass that's still hanging around is having a tough time getting going this spring as it's not greening up too well and has barely grown at all. The area that receives light truck traffic looks dead/dying.In-all, I think this is pretty good grass seed. I didn't get quite the results I wanted, but I think I have a tough grow area and problems with watering way longer than intended right after laying the seed probably created some of my patchy growth issues. I do wish the grass that's still present was taking off better this spring, however, and that's the reason for a 4-star review, rather than 5 stars.To remedy my issues, I decided to overseed this spring and hope the new seed fills in what's not looking too good. As far as I can tell, turf-type tall fescue is the gold standard for the "transition zone", especially where I live as summers tend to be blazing hot. The shortfall of most tall fescues is that they don't really spread very well. This is a relatively harsh area for grass to grow, so I think I need something that can spread and fill in damaged areas more readily. Rather than buying more of this seed, I bought a mix of bluegrass (Barvette + J-2495) and perennial ryegrass. Specifically because my yard will have to deal with occasional traffic, I wanted something down there that can handle some abuse, which drew me to planting a specific bluegrass called "Barvette", which doesn't have the best color, but germinates quickly, spreads/fills aggressively, and is very tolerant of trauma. If the new stuff gets scorched by our hot summers, I'll probably buy more Black Beauty this fall and try again.

FANTASTIC GRASS SEED. I applied to my loan in October 2024, and the grass has grown so thick that it has smothered out the weeds and produced a beautiful, rich and full lawn in May 2025.

We are very satisfied with our purchase. I absolutely love this brand. From Florida to Kentucky I enjoy my lawn care.

I bought this item three weeks ago with high hopes, especially after reading the many positive reviews. Unfortunately, I’ve been deeply disappointed.Despite carefully following all instructions—including aerating my lawn beforehand and watering daily (with rainfall on other days)—not a single blade of grass has sprouted. The seed has simply sat on the surface, and now I’m left with dry, bare patches of dirt in my front yard instead of the lush lawn I was expecting.I take pride in maintaining my property and was really looking forward to seeing this product work. It’s frustrating to put in time, money, and effort with no results whatsoever.

Good seeds, but the bag of the 25-lb product is not durable. When I picked it up it broke from underneath, and I lost almost 50% of the seeds. It would be great to see a better quality of the packaging.