January Grass?

[homeowner]

Hi everyone. We just bought a house and there are clumps of very green, vibrant grass in our backyard. It looks like regular, healthy grass, and I was wondering if anyone knows the name of this grass and if it will thrive in the bright, hot sun during a southwest summer.

[Newt]

Hi Homeowner,
Congratulations on your new home! As to your grass question, without knowing which state and zone you are in, it would be difficult to say what your green clumps are. Here's a zip code zone finder. Once you know your zone, you might want to add your state and zone to your profile.

http://www.gardenweb.com/zones/zip.cgi

You do mention that you are in the southwest. I live in Maryland on the east coast and we get green clumps before the rest of the lawn greens up. They are usually either wild onion or wild garlic. You might want to pull some blades and crush them. If they smell of onion and the blades are ribbon-like and not hollow, then you've got the wild onion. If the blades are hollow and smells like garlic, then it's wild garlic. Take a look here.

http://www.psu.missouri.edu/fishel/wild_onion.htm
http://www.psu.missouri.edu/fishel/wild_garlic.htm

If this doesn't help you might want to contact your local extension service.

http://ceinfo.unh.edu/state_sites.html

Newt