In my small home orchard (12 trees) in Zone 4, I planted red fescue in
my orchard which adjoins the rest of the lawn which is bluegrass. I
have snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils of various kinds, and fritallarias
planted in the fescue so we do not mow until midsummer when all the bulb
foliage has died down. The fescue is more shade tolerant than
bluegrass, is not too tall (12")and has a finer texture that makes the
longer grass look like waves which I like. We mow a couple paths
through it on a weekly basis and keep the edge mowed to distinguish that
area from the lawn. I have areas around each tree mulched with wood
chips. I like the look of the longer grass so we only mow twice a year,
once in midsummer and again in the late fall so the grass will be short
for the early spring bulbs. The regular mower cannot handle the fescue
if it gets too long so we usually rent a high weed mower for those
mowings and take a swipe at the thistles in the woods at the same time.