Over 75 Turf Farms from South Carolina to California and in Australia, South Africa and Brazil have been licensed to grow Palmetto along with Kirkland, the 1995 Florida Sod Grower of the Year, and there are over 5000 acres planted so far. While these totals are only a fraction of the nation's St. Augustine market, they are amazing when you consider that in 1995 there was nothing but a fledgling partnership between two men with a "good grass" and lots of enthusiasm.

But in 1988 all Kirkland knew was he had found a good-looking, shade tolerant grass that showed promise. Kirkland planted some sprigs in plug trays, just in time for the 1989 freeze.The temperature at Kirkland Sod Farms in New Smyrna Beach, Florida dipped to 13°F and stayed cold for several days. Kirkland noticed that the plug trays of the promising grass were frozen, but it was too late to save them by then.

A few weeks later Kirkland did another double take when he realized that the grass in those plug trays was alive and growing. As Kirkland now recalls in a typical understatement, "I knew we had a good grass", shade tolerant and cold tolerant. But it wasn't backed by any university research or any multinational corporation's hype, so it was relegated to an unirrigated area of his farm. This "good grass" was given to a few good customers to replace sod that had died in heavily shaded areas. By now it didn't surprise Kirkland that this grass did well in those areas where other shade tolerant St. Augustines like Floratam, Bitterblue, and Jade had failed.

In 1992, Kirkland received a visit from Tobey Wagner. Experienced in sales and marketing and enamored with the green industry, Wagner had an idea that he could market a good St. Augustine grass in the transition areas between warm and cold season grasses. Raleigh was the only St. Augustine promoted for this transition zone and centipede was typically the sod of choice for homeowners, but there are problems with either choice.

FX-10 was the new St. Augustine grass at that time in Florida, so Wagner planted 8000 square feet in his Charleston, South Carolina front yard. If it weathered the winter well, he would sell FX-10 in South Carolina. Kirkland warned Wagner to be wary of FX-10, and encouraged him to try some of his "good grass" also. Wagner did plant a few pallets in the back corner of his lot, but he remained focused on FX-10, the "grass of the future."

However, FX-10 had a short future in Wagner's yard. In January of 1993, Wagner recorded 15oF and the FX-10 went from dormant to dead. Kirkland's "good grass" went dormant, but there was no winter kill. Wagner became an enthusiastic believer in the grass and named it Palmetto after South Carolina, the Palmetto State.

He quickly submitted samples of this grass to Clemson University and they too have became believers. The lowest temperature recorded during their 1993-1994 evaluations was 9oF; the Palmetto out performed Floratam, Raleigh, Bitterblue, FX-10, and Centipede. According to Dr. Jimmy Golden at Clemson's Sandhills Research Center, "Palmetto demonstrates the positive traits we expect from a St. Augustine, but with a high tolerance for cold and drought. It takes several frosts to brown out, which means it's staying green much longer than our other St. Augustines." In comparison to Centipede, Palmetto showed greater tolerance to chinch bugs and had less winter kill.

Kirkland and Wagner formed Sod Solutions, Inc., a grass marketing company, and introduced Palmetto St. Augustine to Florida growers during the Florida Sod Field Day at the Gary Resmondo Sod Farm in March 1994. To Wagner's astonishment, 20 of Florida's most reputable sod farmers expressed interest in Palmetto, based mainly on Kirkland's testimonial that "it is a good grass." By the end of 1994, Sod Solutions had 12 charter growers.

At the end of 1996, there were 51 licensed Palmetto growers across the nation in various climate and soil conditions reporting positive results from their fields. Several of these growers formerly grew only Centipede or Bermuda grass for that transition zone. Until they saw Palmetto, they didn't believe there was a St. Augustine that would do the job. In less than two years Palmetto had more growers than any other proprietary grass in the sod industry. After eight years of scrutiny and testing, Palmetto proved itself to be shade, cold, frost, drought, and disease tolerant.

The reviews from the growers are now very enthusiastic. "It combines the very best attributes of several of the leading grass varieties without their disadvantages," says Will Nugent of Bethel Farms in Florida. " We call Palmetto the 'Versatile Grass' because of its ability to adapt to a wide range of soil and light conditions."

It is Palmetto's versatility that most impresses landscape architects. Palmetto can be planted in a newly landscaped area and as the landscape matures and becomes more shady, Palmetto maintains that lush, dark green carpet. For this very reason, landscape architects are specifing that Palmetto be used from Universal Studios Florida to the San Diego Zoo in those locations where both heavy shade and bright sunlight affect the same grassed areas.

"Palmetto has the most aggressive root system I've ever see on a St. Augustine", says Buzzy Romine, of Triangle Turf. "We're growing it here in Texas, and Palmetto is growing deep and growing fast. We planted on April 27 and harvested full-block sod on August 25th. It's unbelievable."

With a simple but meaningful quality control program coupled with a methodical, well-planned marketing program, Kirkland and Wagner established a beachhead in Florida. From Florida they have spread the good news of Palmetto across the Southern States one sod farm at a time. And now the reputation of Palmetto has spread overseas to Australia, South America, Africa, and Europe.