• Ornamental grass comes in a variety of spike colors.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  Ornamental grasses are low maintenance plants that are highly adaptable to a variety of soil types and generally have a low requirement for water. Ornamental grasses help to add vertical design element in landscapes and the spikes of grass come in a wide range of sizes, forms and colors. Many ornamental grass varieties even thrive in poor quality soils which do not support the optimal health of other garden plants. Ornamental grasses, with their variation of grass and flower spikes, serve well as groundcover, specimen planting, borders and for erosion control.
  
  

Blue Fescue

• Blue fescue (Festuca spp.) is a mounded, semi-evergreen, perennial ornamental grass grown for its spikes of distinct blue-gray foliage. The grass is popular as accent and specimen plant and grows to a mature height of 6 to 18 inches. Blue fescue produces plain flowers which are best removed to help the plant keep its mounded shape. Plant in well-drained soil and full sun and divide regularly as this helps the plant grow well. Water well during excessively hot weather as the foliage will start to lose color if subjected to drought. Blue fescue is hardy in USDA Zones 5 to 9.
  
  

Feather Reed Grass

• Feather reed grass (Calamagrostis acutiflora) is among the most vertical growing ornamental grasses with erect spikes of foliage and flower stems that give it a distinctly straight growth line. The grass grows to a mature height of 3 to 5 feet and is hardy in USDA Zones 5 to 9, often used around water gardens. Feather reed grass blooms with equally straight, narrow white and red shaded inflorescences that change to a buff color in fall and winter. Feather reed grass grows smaller in size when growing in dry soil.
  
  

Perennial Fountain Grass

• Perennial fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides) produces long spikes of blades with stems of purple flowers tinged with white and purple from July to fall. The grass has an open, mounded mature form with a height ranging between 1 to 3 feet. Perennial fountain grass is hardy in USDA Zones 5 to 9 and is well suited as an accent or specimen planting or mixed with perennial plants. The grass blades change to a yellow gold color during fall. Perennial fountain grass thrives in fertile, well drained or wet ground and adapts to areas of sun or shade.