Best Lawn Care Services in Dallas, TX (2022)

Homeowners in Dallas can enjoy sunny spring days, but when the heat of summer sets in, it can be brutal. Even warm-weather grasses need special attention over the hot summer months. But knowing when and how often to fertilize, apply weed control, and more, can be daunting. Hiring a professional lawn care company can alleviate the stress and take care of the work.

TruGreen is The This Old House Reviews’ Team top choice for Dallas lawn care, offering a variety of top quality programs and a la carte services performed by highly trained specialists. Alternatives include Weed Man and Lawn Doctor.

Top Recommended Lawn Care Provider: TruGreen

TruGreen is perhaps the first name people think of when they think of lawn care. The company provides services for 2.3 million residential and commercial customers nationwide, everywhere except for Alaska. TruGreen stands out because instead of offering one annual program like most of its competitors, it offers five annual programs in addition to its a la carte services like pest control that manage pests like grubs and mosquitoes.

For full-program customers, TruGreen services are backed by the Healthy Lawn Guarantee®. This states that if you see any issues between treatment appointments, a TruGreen lawn care specialist will return to re-treat as many times as needed at no extra cost. These services are performed by TruExpert℠ Certified Specialists. Specialists must pass the TruExpert Lawn Certification Program, a 10-day course that covers topics like horticulture, agronomics, and safety. TruGreen also offers an online chat function and mobile app. We give TruGreen a 97 out of 100.

Why You Should Hire Professional Lawn Care in Dallas

Even though summers get very hot, winters in Dallas can occasionally get cold—sometimes, it even snows. Warm season grasses need special attention in the hotter and cooler months. Dallas homeowners may have some basic knowledge about fertilizing, but do you know enough about what the best NPK value for your fertilizer is, or how often to apply it? Do you know the best soil pH for your grass type?

Proper lawn care involves understanding and implementing all of that and more. Instead of trying to figure all of that out yourself and potentially wasting time and energy, consider hiring a seasoned lawn care company with decades of expertise.

The Most Common Grasses in Dallas

Warm-season grasses are suited to the Dallas climate. There are many different varieties that fare well in the region, but here are the most common ones you’ll find in Dallas lawns.

• St. Augustine: This deep green grass thrives in tropical regions and has thick blades and high shade and salt tolerance. However, it requires more irrigation than some warm-season alternatives, making it higher maintenance.
• Bermuda: This hardy grass ranges from light green to dark green, and can handle heavy foot traffic and is tolerant to drought. However, it grows very quickly, making it high maintenance.
• Zoysia: This rich green grass is weed- and drought-resistant and grows dense turf. However, it is slow-growing.
• Buffalo: This deep blue-green grass is native to Texas, has a rich color, and requires less water than some alternatives. However, it does not tolerate shade well.

How to Choose Lawn Care in Dallas

You should consider a variety of factors before you choose a lawn care provider in Dallas.

• Cost: Lawn care companies can’t publish sample quotes online because every lawn has different needs. Luckily, you can get a free, customized quote online by entering your name, address, and basic contact information. Many companies use an online tool that maps out your lawn’s exact dimensions.
• Plans and services: Some companies, like TruGreen, offer multiple annual programs while others offer just one. The details of the plans change from company to company. If you only need a few services, it may make more sense to choose a company that offers a basic plan than going with a company that only offers one comprehensive annual plan, where you may end up paying for services you don’t want.
• Guarantees: Our top pick, TruGreen, offers a satisfaction guarantee for full-program customers that if you see issues between scheduled appointments, a specialist will return as many times as needed to re-treat at no extra cost.
• Reputation: For the best lawn care, it’s better to go with a seasoned professional that has decades of experience and a proven track record. Reading expert reviews can help you find out if a company is effective and reliable.
• Organic options: Some lawn care companies, like Weed Man and Lawn Doctor, offer some environmentally friendly solutions to lawn care, including natural fertilizer.

Dallas Lawn Care Tips

Eradicating Brown patch

Brown patch is the most common lawn disease Dallas homeowners face. This fungus causes unsightly, ringed brown patches of thinning and dying grass. It is especially common in St. Augustine grass—one of the most popular varieties in Dallas. You can control Brown patch with horticultural corn gluten meal and chemical fungicides.

Know your Dallas soil

Dallas is home to three different soil regions—Blackland Prairie, Eastern Cross Timbers, and Grand Prairie. Blackland Prairie is clay soil, while Eastern Cross Timbers is loam, and Grand Prairie is a mix of limestones, clay, and salty loams.

They are all unique but share one fundamental thing in common—they all are above 7 on the pH scale, meaning they are mostly alkaline. If you’re a gardener, take this alkaline soil into account when planting. Some flowers, like Azaleas, do better in acidic soils.

Dallas Lawn Care FAQs

When should you water your lawn, and how often?

The best time to water your lawn is before 10 a.m., ideally between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. This gives the grassroots time to absorb the moisture before it evaporates in the sun. As for how often, it’s best to water deeply but infrequently. Instead of watering shallowly daily, give your lawn 1-1.5 inches of water a week in either one or two waterings.

How do you fix your lawn?

If your issue is thinning grass or bald patches, you can patch your lawn with either seed or sod to restore it. Other ways to improve your lawn include aerating, dethatching, performing a soil test, mowing your grass at the right height, and using organic fertilizer.

Can you get rid of weeds organically?

There are some organic weed killers on the market, like A.D.I.O.S. You can also kill weeds organically with home remedies, like corn meal gluten or diluted vinegar. The corn meal gluten won’t harm your grass, but vinegar might.

What is the best lawn care service?

No two lawn care companies are the same, since they can differ in services offered, cost, reputation, and more. Based on our rigorous methodology, This Old House Reviews Team believes TruGreen is the top choice for lawn care service.

Our Rating Methodology

To provide readers with the most objective, accurate, and detailed recommendations, the This Old House Reviews Team continually researches lawn care service companies on the market. We take the following steps to obtain up-to-date information about the industry and each company we review:

• Analyze more than 100 customer reviews from third-party review sites, such as Yelp, the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and Google Reviews, for each company
• Secret-shop for lawn care plans and packages to get a sense of cost, offered services, and the overall shopping experience for prospective customers
• Speak with representatives on the phone to simulate the customer service experience from each provider
• Update information on a regular basis to ensure the most accurate information when plans or services change with each company

We use the data from our research to build an in-depth rating system that allows us to score lawn care providers on a 100-point scale. Here are the factors in our evaluation and their designated scores:

• Plan options (30): As one of the most important factors for homeowners shopping for a lawn care service, this one is weighted heavily based on each company’s lawn coverage. Companies that offer more options, such as irrigation, weed control, seeding, and aeration services in addition to a general plan, score higher than others.
• Trustworthiness (30): Each company’s reputation is another significant factor for homeowners to consider before signing up for a plan. We scored providers based on their BBB score, accreditation, and offered guarantees available with each purchase.
• Additional Benefits (20): We gave extra points to companies that provide a few additional services and benefits with their offered plans, such as organic treatments, pest control services, and a mobile app for digital communication and plan management.
• Customer Service (10): In this rating category, we awarded points to customer-focused lawn care service providers who offer weekend availability and easy communication through phones, online chats, and online resources.
• Availability (10): We also scored companies based on their overall availability, rewarding those that are nationally available over local companies only operating in select cities or ZIP codes.

To share feedback or ask a question about this article, send a note to our Reviews Team at reviews@thisoldhouse.com.