I agree with georich's idea of curving beds to soften your square patio! Curved beds add a lot of interest and give you more depth for planting. I've had good luck with two particular grasses and since we are both in the same zone I think they would be a good choice. I love Feather Reed Grass 'Karl Foerster,' which gets about 3-5 feet high and 1.5-2.5' wide. It gets beautiful wheat like plumes in summer and still offers winter interest. My other favorite grass is fountain grass 'hameln,' which grows 1.5-2.5' in heighth and width. Planted near my grasses are heuchera, astilbe, catmint, coreopsis, salvia and I use some ajuga for groundcover. I know some people complain that ajuga can be invasive, but in zone 5 I don't find that to be true. This past winter nearly killed a few mounds of it! Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Feather Reed Grass

Well, you'll probably be hittin' the road if you put in a 12' Arundo donax or the bigger cultivars of Miscanthus. But it sounds like the people who wrote the rules there don't know jack pellets about gardening. Get a good book* on grasses or check out some of the better OG nurseries online;** there's much info about all that throughout this forum. Some grasses to consider as specimens or en masse: Achnatherum calamagrostis (recently reclassified, I think), most of the Pennisetums, Helictotrichon, the shorter Molinias (M. cerulea) or Deschampsias; the short but heart-stopping Sporobolus; Themeda japonica for fall colorÂthe list is huge. In zone 7 you can even grow some (under18"!) great Stipas (S. tenuisima) or CarexesÂcheck out the ones of New Zealand origin. Lucky you. *Rick Darke: Color Encyclopedia of Orn. Grasses **Here are two online nurseries near NJ: in MD: http://www.earthlypursuits.net in PA: http://www.limerockgrasses.com

One issue that needs to be brought forth - should service be required in, on or around the box you could loose the grasses that you planted. True this might not be an excessive investment but utility companies do have the rights to service their equipment. Any plants, hardscapes or buildings encroaching in the easement could be removed and not replaced at the discretion of the utility company. Like the others have stated you can dig a hole and drop in the grass and trim the turf with string trimmer or mower. You could remove sod, plant and mulch, which is what I would do. If there is room I would leave enough space for workers to service the box without having to cut back or down the grass when they do their work. Jake

Grass Guy, Grasses have really 'taken off' in Ontario! Excuse the pun ~ When I started out giving slide presentations at local hort. societies 12+ years ago people looked at grasses as something quite foriegn. Now, I see them in lots and lots of landscapes. They even turn up in retirement communities :o) Unfortunately landscapers are still uninformed and are doing things like,planting too close and planting Pennisetum rubrum as a hardy perennial .... not! How could people help but like them ~ they are such a delightful addition to the landscape! A.