Sod Star—Celebration Bermudagrass

Janet Zink



Jim Anderson has been watching grass grow in south Hillsborough County for 30 years.

Laugh if you must, but it’s more stimulating than watching paint dry. Right now, sod growers all over Florida have their eyes on CelebrationTM, a new breed of Bermuda grass from Australia. It covers Anderson’s 65-acre farm in Ruskin.

“We’re very excited about this particular grass,” said Dave Diamond, president of the Florida Sod Growers Cooperative. “Up till now we haven’t found the absolute grass. But this one has a lot of the features we’re looking for.”

Anderson, owner of Anderson and Son Inc., is best known for inventing a way to repair sea grass damaged by boat propellers. But he also grows sod on land he owns in Ruskin and 90 acres that he leases from Tampa Electric Co. near the Hillsborough/Manatee county line.

“I’m the grass man,” he said.

Anderson, who cultivates paspalum grass on his TECO land, eliminated St. Augustine grass from his inventory a little over a year ago and replaced it with Celebration because he thinks the new grass is more environmentally sound than other breeds.

It preserves water by storing the liquid in sheaths that cover its roots.

“The drier it gets the more it swells,” Anderson said of the roots. Sod growers hope that Celebration will save the reputation of grass. “Turf in general is going through a period where it’s being looked at as a bad boy in the landscape because it’s perceived as a water waster,” Diamond said.

The real problem, Diamond said, is homeowners who don’t know how to water properly. They overwater, or water at times when the sun is hottest, making their efforts ineffective.

Even with the proper care, it’s not easy to grow grass in Florida. “We haven’t had the right grass,” Anderson said. “I’ve replaced some yards four times.”

He believes that Celebration may be the final answer for lawn lovers. But that remains to be seen.

“Two years from now, five years from now, this might be the best grass ever invented and it might be a bust,” Diamond said.

Some local heavyweights are taking a chance with the grass. Anderson is installing 250,000 square feet of the stuff on the common areas of MiraBay, a 750-acre waterfront community that will bring nearly 2,000 homes to the Apollo Beach area. Because it’s done so well, Terrabrook, MiraBay’s developer, has asked Anderson for a price on putting the grass on all of its home sites and will specify Celebration in its deed restrictions.

Celebration was the grass ordered for Eddie Jr. and Candy DeBartolo’s new $5-million mansion in Avila in north Tampa.

Anderson, 53, grew up in St. Petersburg. He and his father, who died in 1990, moved to Ruskin in 1972 to launch a landscaping business and take advantage of the area’s building boom.

They started out with a 20-acre tree and sod farm and a 5-acre nursery and retail center in Ruskin. While operating those businesses, Anderson planted the St. Augustine grass plugs that now blanket much of the land at King’s Point in Sun City Center.

He sold his 20 acres and took a detour to a sod farm in Charlotte County in 1986, then abandoned that venture and began leasing land from TECO in 1990. He bought a 65-acre farm on Cockroach Bay Road in 2001 and sold the retail center in 2002.

Anderson, who employs 13 people, sells Celebration for 18 cents a square foot, 25 cents a square foot with installation. His paspalum goes for 25 cents a square foot to do-it-yourselfers and 50 cents a square foot with installation.

Anderson and Son Farms
Where: 4331 Cockroach Bay Road
Web sites: www.seagrass.net, www.celebrationturf.com or www.paspalum.com.
Phone: 813-645-6911.

Sod Star Series: Farmer’s Market: Anderson and Son Farms
St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg, Fla.
May 23, 2003