Although grasses are an important component of Great Plains flora, Midwesterners have only recently incorporated them into landscape plantings. Many homeowners are acquiring plants such as ornamental grasses because they tolerate or even benefit from lower application rates of nitrogen and pesticides. Ornamental grasses tolerate drought, wetness, and fluctuating winter temperatures. They are resistant to most diseases and insect pests and require minimum inputs of fertilizer. Because of these characteristics they are useful to gardeners interested in a low-input or sustainable landscape.
True grasses belong to a specific plant family.
However, from a landscape point of view most grasslike plants, such as sedges and rushes, are included as ornamental grasses and serve the same function in the landscape. Ornamental grasses, which are not mowed, are used primarily as a contrast with mowed turf-type grasses. Grass forms vary from low mounding to fountain shaped to tall vertical. A number of grasses change in foliage color in the fall to displays of straw yellow, orange, red or purple. The inflorescence also varies in size and color, and may change color in the fall as well.