Purchasing Seed
There are two ways to purchase grass seed. You can visit the garden section of a retain store and pick out a package labeled with intended use, such as "Shade mix." Or, you can buy the latest cultivars and make up your own mix. For this you will need to nose around, starting with a good nursery. If the nursery doesn't carry what you want, staff there can probably suggest where to shop. Calling the customer service departments of the large seed producers should also yield results. Either way, you will still need to know the basics about purchasing seed, beginning with the terms species and cultivar.

The word species refers to a group of closely related plants that differ from one another in only minor ways. Tall fescues are one species of lawn grass. The various members of a species are called varieties (which originally occurred in nature) or cultivars (variations that came about in cultivation, as a result of deliberate breeding). In common usage the terms variety and cultivar are often interchanged, but there is a difference between them. Grass cultivars include old standbys, such as the tall fescues, 'Alta' or 'Kentucky 31', as well as new and improved types that have been bred and chosen for superior characteristics. Newer grass cultivars, in most cases, are highly recommended.