Ornamental grasses have been used in gardens since before the Renaissance-and are currently enjoying another. This is not surprising, given today's enthusiasm for low-maintenance gardens and an increasing awareness of the environmental benefits of native plants. Varied in form, scale and texture-from ground-hugging to gigantic, from thread-fine to spiky to pillow-soft-grasses thrive in difficult areas such as steep slopes or poor soils. Many look good grown in pots and require less care than annuals. Their design potential is most exciting for creating structure and atmosphere in the garden.

Grasses are beautiful in all seasons, undulating in the wind and catching and playing with the light. Some, such as plume grass (Saccharum ravennae), are best grown as specimen or single plants; others, such as hakone grass (Hakonechloa) or dropseed (Sporobolus), show to best advantage when grouped. A number have distinctive summer colour or variegation, and most have excellent fall and winter colour. The taller ones usually hold their form right through the winter and pair well with conifers such as yew, cedar and juniper. In spring, their delicate new growth is lovely as a backdrop for late-blooming bulbs, while in early summer they provide a foil and filler for perennials and annuals. On frosty fall mornings, grasses sparkle in the long, low sunshine. But mid- to late summer is their prime time, when they mediate and make richer the strong yellows of daisy-like perennials.