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All 29 grasses in the catalogue, alphabetical by common name. Each links to a full page with its ratings across the USDA, RHS, Canadian and Australian systems.
- Annual ryegrass Lolium multiflorum – Fast-establishing annual grass with a dense fibrous root system. Useful where rapid soil-binding is more important than nitrogen fixation. USDA zones 3–9
- Bamboo (clumping) Bambusa oldhamii – Non-running ornamental bamboo with dense culms; useful as screening or specimen. USDA zones 8–12
- Black bamboo Phyllostachys nigra – Running bamboo reaching 6–10 m with canes that mature from green to glossy black, used for ornamental woodwork, furniture, fishing rods, and shakuhachi flutes. USDA zones 7–10
- Blue fescue Festuca glauca – Compact evergreen fescue grass forming neat domed tussocks of intensely silver-blue narrow needle-like foliage. The classic small foliage-blue ornamental grass for the front of the border and edging. USDA zones 4–8
- Blue oat grass Helictotrichon sempervirens – Larger evergreen ornamental grass than blue fescue, forming rounded fountains of silver-blue narrow foliage topped by airy tan oat-like flower panicles in early summer. USDA zones 4–8
- Cape restio (Broom reed) Elegia capensis – Tall Cape fynbos restio with bamboo-like green stems carrying whorls of fine green branchlets that give a horsetail-like appearance. Architectural plant for waterside or wet-tolerant Mediterranean planting. USDA zones 9–11
- Cape thatching reed Chondropetalum tectorum – Cape fynbos restio with tall, slender, leafless dark-green stems carrying dark seed bracts at the tips. The principal thatching reed of traditional Cape architecture. USDA zones 8–11
- Common reed Phragmites australis – Tall worldwide wetland grass reaching 4 m, with the classic plumed flower heads of reed beds. The traditional roof-thatching reed of northern Europe and a globally important wetland-purification plant. USDA zones 3–10
- Esparto grass Stipa tenacissima – Tough perennial bunch-grass of Mediterranean North Africa and Iberia, with wiry blue-green leaves. The leaves are the principal source of high-quality book and Bible paper, and traditional matting fibre. USDA zones 8–11
- Feather reed grass ‘Karl Foerster’ Calamagrostis × acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ – Sterile hybrid grass forming strict upright columns of narrow foliage topped by feather plumes that flower in early summer (earlier than most ornamental grasses) and turn straw-tan, persisting through winter. USDA zones 4–9
- Fountain grass Pennisetum alopecuroides – East Asian native ornamental grass forming arching fountain-shaped clumps with fluffy bottlebrush flower spikes in late summer, ageing through caramel to tan and persisting through winter. USDA zones 5–9
- Giant feather grass Stipa gigantea – Iberian native ornamental grass forming a low fountain of fine evergreen leaves topped by airy 2 m tall panicles of golden oat-like flowers that catch the wind beautifully. USDA zones 5–9
- Hedge bamboo Bambusa multiplex – Chinese clumping bamboo reaching 6–8 m with fine arching canes and dense foliage, naturally forming a tight clump rather than running. The standard ornamental and screening bamboo of warm-temperate gardens. USDA zones 7–11
- Japanese forest grass Hakonechloa macra – Japanese woodland grass forming low arching mounds of cascading green foliage like flowing water. The cultivar ‘Aureola’ adds gold foliage with green pinstripes, glowing in dappled shade. USDA zones 5–9
- Japanese millet Echinochloa esculenta – Fast-growing warm-season annual grass that thrives where most cover crops drown. Tolerates wet, waterlogged, and even briefly flooded soils. USDA zones 3–11
- Maiden grass ‘Gracillimus’ Miscanthus sinensis ‘Gracillimus’ – Selected cultivar of Chinese silver grass with extra-narrow gracefully arching foliage and silver-tan plume flowers in autumn. The classic mid-sized fountain-shaped ornamental grass of the modern border. USDA zones 5–9
- Mexican feather grass Stipa tenuissima – Diminutive Mexican and southern North American native ornamental grass with extraordinarily fine hair-thin foliage and silky pale flower panicles that sway in the lightest breeze. USDA zones 7–10
- Morning Light maiden grass Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’ – Selected cultivar of Chinese silver grass with narrow leaves edged in fine white variegation that gives the whole plant a silvery shimmer, especially when backlit by low sun. Late and sparing flowering reduces self-seeding. USDA zones 5–9
- Moso bamboo Phyllostachys edulis – Giant running bamboo to 20 m, the principal commercial bamboo of China for timber, building material, scaffold poles, fibre, and edible spring shoots. USDA zones 6–11
- Northern sea oats Chasmanthium latifolium – Eastern North American native woodland-edge grass with broad bamboo-like leaves and flat oat-like green seed heads that hang on slender stems, ageing through bronze to tan and persisting through winter. USDA zones 3–8
- Oats Avena sativa – Cool-season cereal with a useful double life as a cover crop. Winter-killed in cold climates, where the dead biomass becomes natural mulch protecting soil through spring. USDA zones 3–9
- Ornamental grass (miscanthus) Miscanthus sinensis – Tall deciduous grass forming impressive clumps with feathery silvery plumes in autumn. USDA zones 4–9
- Pampas grass Cortaderia selloana – Massive South American clump-forming ornamental grass reaching 3 m with sharp-edged arching leaves and tall plumes of silvery-white (or pink) flower heads through autumn. Spectacular but seriously invasive across much of the warm temperate world. USDA zones 7–11
- Purple pampas grass (Jubata grass) Cortaderia jubata – Closely related to pampas grass but smaller and reproducing entirely apomictically (without sexual reproduction) — every plant a clone. Pink-purple flower plumes through autumn. USDA zones 7–11
- Spiny-headed mat rush Lomandra longifolia – Tough strappy-leaved Australian native that looks like a tussock grass but is actually in the asparagus family. Virtually indestructible and now a landscaping mainstay. USDA zones 8–11
- Switchgrass Panicum virgatum – Tall North American prairie native ornamental grass forming strict upright clumps with airy panicles of tiny pink flowers in late summer that age to tan and hold their structure through winter. USDA zones 4–9
- Vetiver Chrysopogon zizanioides – Tropical Indian giant clumping grass with deep penetrating fibrous root systems used internationally for soil erosion control. Roots distil to give the cool earthy-smoky vetiver essential oil. USDA zones 8–11
- Weaver’s bamboo Bambusa textilis – Chinese clumping bamboo with long, straight, thin-walled flexible canes ideally suited to splitting for weaving and basketry. Used commercially for fine basket and hat work across southern China. USDA zones 8–11
- Winter rye Secale cereale – The hardiest winter cereal — grows when nothing else will. Standard autumn-sown cover crop in cold-climate gardens; exceptional root system improves soil structure. USDA zones 3–9