have to agree although pennistum rubrum runs a close second

At the moment, Helictotrichon Sempervirens,is a lovely steely-blue, with it's flower heads, held high above it moving in the breeze, but Carex Buchananii, is my all year favourite,with it's foxy-red colour, and it has provided me with so many young plants, to dot around the garden, or give to friends.

Imperata cyclindrica 'Rubra', Festuca glauca, and Chionochloa rubra. And Carex berggrenii - except that it will keep harbouring land cress. But it makes a rather nice bonsai accent plant.

Another Grass with similar colours to the Hakonechloa is Phragmites australis in its 'Variegatus' form. Rather different habit though as it shoots up to 2 metres in height! As it enjoys wet conditions, I grow it in a hole-less pot.

I used to have Helictotrichon s. but it gave up the ghost over this last winter. I'm looking for another one.

Deschampsia caespitosa 'Northern Lights' - It's variegated cream and green with a tinge of pink. It's happy in our heavy clay and partial shade. I'm hoping for a bit of autumn colour from it, too.

Old faithful, Gardener's Garters. That invasive stripey stuff. Can't remember the latin name.

Hi GN, try Phalaris arundinacea, varieties usually grown are Picta and Feesey. Latter has almost pure white leaves with very narrow bands of green - nice!

Does anyone else grow Phragmites australis Variegatus? An upright grower with the stature of Miscanthus, but with leaves held horizontally in the manner of Hakonechloa m. Aureola, and similar in colour but with somewhat more green and less yellow than Aureola. It's nice!

Sorghastrum nutans 'Sioux Blue'. Saw it at RHS Wisley in the autumn of 2003, in the Piet Oudolf borders, and it is still my favourite one.

What's the difference between an 'ornamental' grass and one that just grows ? My garden is full of flowering grasses most of which have escaped from the lawn or neighbouring hay fields. To my eye they look just as pretty as the ones you buy from garden centres and they're free !

I like wild grasses more than "garden" ones. And they have such lovely names.

I have a nice one called polypogon montspeliensis which I got from the RHS seed distribution. It looks just like an English wild grass but a bit more foreign. Anyone know where Mont Spele is??

The grasses at Wisley were really appealing even to a grass non-fan. The Piet Oudolf garden was really impressive due to it's scale, with those great, generous swathes of planting. The diametric opposite to my tiny yard which is the garden design equivalent of a Victorian parlour - a bit of everything crammed in. I think grasses, more than most other plants, don't make sense unless there's a good, big clump.

My least favourite grass is Miscanthus zebrina, hasn't clumped up and isn't even very stripey.

I have to say that I dislike M. sinensis Zebrinus because it is (or should be) stripey! I like to group different coloured Ornamental Grasses together in (largish) pots. So it's a long way from 'Prairie Planting', but it looks good to me.

Calypso. Yes ordinary grasses can be effective, but if you allow too many of them to flourish surely you'll get a garden full of 'wild' grasses and nothing else. The thing about ornamentals is that they have been specially gathered (or bred) to give a range of colour from bright yellow through all stages of green to blues, purples and reds. There are also many variegated types with vertical banding in shades of white, cream and yellow. And hopefully they don't spread too far or fast to engulf everything else.

Garden Nerd, as it happens Polypogon monspeliensis (note there is no "t") is a native English grass. It grows on damp places on the south and south-east coasts from. The name monspeliensis refers to Montpellier in Southern France.

My favourite grass at the moment is Melica uniflora f. albida. A lovely woodland grass with white spikelets. It's a nice early spring flowerer too.

i must admit to having a few favourites.
stipa arundinacea is a bit of a stunner when it develops its
beautiful rose/bronze seed arils. barbata is also very nice.
the big miscanthuses like roland a great if u have room for
a big statement. i LOVE grasses. : )

Hi Green-'un.

Have to say S. arundinacea does look good at this time of year esp. in the sunshine. Trouble is mine seeds itself all over the place in my clay soil. On the other hand S. gigantea took 3 or possibly 4 years to produce any seed-heads at all.

I have Miscanthus sinensis Ferne Osten and Kleine Silberspinner (hope spelling is correct!) just coming into flower both in pots. M.s. Morning Light doesn't seem to flower here, but foliage makes up for it.