I have lots of shade and my front yard is 2/3 garden bed. I have had St Augustine which is mostly tuffs now. Who has zoysia or other drought tolerant varieties. What do you like or not about it?

Hi Anna,
I have Zoysia and high quality Burmuda... love both of them.
Here is your big problem though- shade. Honestly, no other turf grasses will grow much (if at all) in shade except St. Augustine. The six hours of full sun rule applies here. If you have less, you are stuck with St. Augustine- even then, shade makes it rather weak. Dry shade (under trees) is even more difficult.
I used to grow St. Augustine but the wonderful summer of 2011 made it go bye-bye. I could not keep up with the water needs when the endless days of 100+ degree day hit.
I have seen many people in your situation (if the remaining 1/3 of your yard is small) fake it and just mulch the whole area with hardwood mulch. Yes, there are draw backs but in the end, it does look rather nice. "Mowing" consists of a couple times per season of a quick shot of Roundup.
Sorry, I know this was not much help but I would hate to see you send $ on turf that will do even worse than the St. Augustine!

I appreciate your advice...Maybe I can put down a green rug

Go buy some cans of green spray paint

Or plant monkey grass or mondo grass there... it does fine in the shade, doesn't need a lot of watering, and looks enough like grass that you can't tell the difference from a distance. It does fine with some foot traffic, and doesn't need mowing, and it spreads, but doesn't go crazy and it has shallow roots so it isn't hard to pull up and replant if it ends up someplace you didn't want it.

I have thought about the dwarf mondo. I live in a hated HOA, so I guess I need to ask

I have spent a great deal of money on Shade-Tolerant St. Augustine that did nothing. I have spent even more to amend to soil where countless efforts to put regular St. Augustine sod down was fruitless. We finally planted dwarf Monkey Grass. I swear! No one, even the HOA would know the difference especially if it is cut, though it doesn't need it. It does grow VERY slow so I would plant it very close together to get a "lawn" quicker. It is winter tolerant in our Zone 9a freezes, drought tolerant but does like some moisture. And stays green all year. And it is tough! Except for a mole uprooting it I haven't had any trouble in my shady area. I've noticed my neighbor across the street has some dwarf Monkey Grass invading his St Augustine. He's allow it to.

I wish you lived closer or wanted to drive this way. I know a place you can dig the dwarf monkey grass and won't cost you a dime. There is a huge place there use to be houses and now not and I dig stuff all the time. I would help you dig

I like the look of dwarf mondo! I am a little worried because some people around here have it dying due to some disease, although the ones I have in the garden beds seem ok.A landscaper suggested liriope which is very vigorous, but I am not sure I would like that look

Liriope gets a lot taller, too.