Fescue grass offers hope for lawns here

The second drought in four summers has left most area homeownerseither with brown grass or high water bills.

But a hardy southern grass that's creeping north can giveChicagoans green grass with no sprinkling.

The grass, called tall fescue, sends its water-seeking roots asdeep as 6 feet. By comparison, roots of Kentucky bluegrass and ryegrass blends common in the Chicago area grow less than 2 1/2 feetdeep, seed company president Jon Loft said Sunday at the NationalHardware Show at McCormick Place.

"Tall fescue has really caught on in Ohio and southern Indiana,and there's no reason it can't catch on in Illinois," Loft said."When you have heat and no …