Ornamental Grass
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One of the nicest things about decorative grasses are their textures and forms. Many perennial flowers have small leaves and grasses contrast nicely to this type of foliage. The foliage is typically long, similar to that of a Daylily. Some can be of a medium thickness while other ornamental grasses have slender leaves.
See Fountain Grass in this video.
Gardening with grasses also adds something different than flowers, and that is their feathery plumes. They might be the height of the foliage or they might extend way beyond. In either case, they provide a different type of interest.
Plumes usually occur in late summer and continue into the fall. This is another advantage if you want some plants with interesting features later in the season.
While many perennials can look pretty sad in the winter, here is where perennial ornamental grasses show off. Their tan colored blades provide great winter interest, and seeing the taller ones billowing in the wind is a pleasant site!
There are many decorative grasses to choose from. I am going to list my favorites. These are the ones that I often use in my perennial garden designs.
Maiden Grass
Botanically know as Miscanthus, this is one of the taller ornamental grasses. 
Some that are easy to find at garden centers are:
1. Straight species with solid green foliage
2. Morning Light which is a soft combination of lighter and darker green colors.
3. Zebra Grass with its intermittent horizontal gold bands, making it very interesting!
Maiden Grass will get to be about five feet tall. It provides a nice focal point, a background for other perennials, or even a screen. As other grasses, it will develop lovely plumes.
Fountain Grass
This grass is very similar to Maiden Grass, but it is much smaller. It actually comes in different size, the smallest being 'Little Bunny' and the largest being 'Hamlin'. I use 'Hamlin a lot due to its substantial size of about eighteen inches tall. Its plumes are delicate but very nice.
Purple Fountain Grass
This is really an annual in most areas. Yet it is very attractive due to the fact that it has maroon colored foliage. Use it in the garden or even in planters. It will get to be about fifteen inches tall, but looks taller when it plumes mid to late summer and into the fall.
Japanese Blood Grass
What's attractive about this grass is its color. In late summer it turns a dark fire-red color. When the sunlight hits this plant, it is amazing. Japanese Blood Grass is a small decorative grass, so you may want to use a few together. It hardly reaches a foot high.
Grass care is easy. Just water as needed and remove any yellow foliage if it should appear. This is one perennial ornamental grass that I like to cut back in the spring so that I can enjoy its winter form, color and movement.
Be sure that you do cut it back though. Otherwise, new growth will mix will the old growth and it will look very untidy. Of course this is true of all perennials.
Dividing perennial grasses is easy. If they get too large, just dig them out, cut them in half with a spade and re-plant them. They are not too fussy.
Ornamental grass gardens can be created with or without other perennials. Russian Sage and grasses look well together due to the difference in textures and common blooming times. Black Eyed Susan is another perennial you can use with grasses.
Oehme Van Sweden, landscape architects in Washington DC, coined the phrase the "New American Garden", using many ornamental grass types along with other perennials to pretty much eliminate lawn in a landscape design.
Return From Ornamental Grass to Perennial Flowers
