I don't know for sure, but could #4 be Johnson grass? It kind of looks like it. . .to me anyway.

The height you want is a hard one .... usually 'short' means about 2-3 feet. The suggestions already given are good ones but here are a couple more not listed. Juncus tenuis - path rush 1' tall, dry soil, sun to part Muhlenbergia cuspidata - prairie satin grass 1' tall, dry soil, sun Carex rosea - curly styled wood sedge 1' tall, dry-mesic, shade to part shade You may want to consider spring ephemerals for flowers...they die back once they've bloomed. Otherwise there are violets that are under a foot tall.

You might see if there are any wholesalers who can supply smaller tubes of the Purple fountain for landscapers - even if you ask a landscaper to buy them in - if you can get cheaper pots and sacrifice some plunes by giving a good haircut, you could try dividing the clumps & could probably produce 4 times the number for planting out. In terms of native grasses, I don;t know your area, I know I find a lot of roadside grasses in my area very pleasant even though some may be weeds. Do be careful though when I say "weeds" some species can be very invasive - Qld now has a problem with the other fountain grass. I found this site which can supply small trial quantities of seed and has some good sections of notes on grasses and their uses (no commercial interest) Here is a link that might be useful: native grass seed supplier

looks like a pasture grass to me... Perhaps Poa pratensis (Kentucky bluegrass, english meadow grass, smooth meadow grass) You'll need a photo of the flower rather than the seeds if you want a good Id. Also, is it a runner grass? How often does it flower (once a year, any time in summer, straight after rain?). That fact that it has happily come up in mulch tells me that it is almost certainly a weed. I would recommend against propagating a grass you can't accurately identify - you might end up spreading something really hard to get rid off, like serrated tussock! (when I was young I carefully propagated some interesting grass I found on a friends farm - a year later I discovered it was mexican plume grass and spent 3 years getting rid of it.