Clockwise from bottom: Hakonechloa macra ‘All Gold’; Chasmanthium latifolium; Melinis repens; Panicum virgatum ‘North Wind’; P. virgatum ‘Dallas Blues’; slender Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Overdam’; feather duster Chloris virgata*; Molina caerulea ssp. arundinacea ‘Sky Racer’; Pennisetum massaicum ‘Red Bunny Tails’; P. x advena ‘Fireworks’; P. vilosum; Melinis nerviglumis ‘Savannah’.

 

The sure sign of germination is a hint of green as a seedling begins to push through the soil. We know most flowering plants have a two-part seedling leaf. Others sprout with a single offering. The symmetrical twin leaves come from plants known as dicots: squash, tomatoes, and walnuts, for example. The single leaf comes from a monocot: plants like palms, orchids, and grasses. Three of our most important food crops—corn, wheat, and rice—are monocots in the grass family Poaceae (formerly Gramineae).

Ornamental grasses became popular, this time around, in the early 1980s. We had discovered that brown is a color too, and leaving grasses standing through the winter with their decorative tassel flowers was a revelation to American gardeners in colder climates that usually had very little to look at through the winter months. An earlier love affair with ornamental grasses was witnessed at the World’s Columbian Exposition—the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. Classical architecture, fountains, and artificial lakes were adorned with urns exploding with flowering grasses.

These plants come from the grasslands, where they colonize huge swaths of territory, which should be a warning: Grasses spread and may become invasive. Nearly all of the popular Miscanthus varieties, and annual and perennial Pennisetum are not recommended for climates where the seeds have time to ripen and self-sow. For that reason, our photographic scan focuses on grass species and varieties that are either native to parts of North America or, for the most part, do not spread aggressively.

The ornamental grasses are annuals or herbaceous perennials with strappy blades and tubular flower stalks. Certain evergreen grass relatives are important timber sources in parts of the world—the bamboos. These plants have hollow stems or culms and segmented nodes. The cold-hardy running types are among the most tenacious invaders and nearly impossible to eradicate. There are non-running, clump-forming tropical bamboos, but in cold climates, only bamboos in the genus Fargesia are safe to plant.

Grass-like plants are often included in discussions of true grasses. In wetlands, there are the rushes (Juncaceae) and in moist or shady spots there are sedges (Cyperaceae). To identify which group these plants fall into, native plant lovers have a saying: “Sedges have edges, rushes are round.” If you cut the blade of a sedge crosswise, you’ll see a triangle. Cut the rush—it is a circle.

My grass “fountain” in early summer and winter: tall Miscanthus giganteus with M. sinensis ‘Gracillimus’.