A couple of old-school gardeners I admire believe that ornamental grasses belong in meadows or along the shore, not in the garden. I reluctantly agree that grasses can dress the garden with a pizzazz bordering on wild abandonment, but I have to insist that most of us really need something besides the flattened blades of daylilies and irises to contrast with our gardens’ mélange of round-leaf textures and woody plant shapes. And grasses are better than anything else at capturing summer’s light and refracting it like a gemstone. In fact, grasses are to the garden what a scarf and earrings are to my inner French woman: necessary accessories. Long blades, like a silver necklace, give the light a shiny surface for our eyes to wander along. Airy blooms wrap around the garden like a stole, embellishing its natural beauty. And sparkling seed heads are its diamond bling.

These annual selections are easy to grow and utterly adorable

Dusky blades and arching seeds

Name: Ornamental rice (Oryza sativa cvs.)

Soft, touchable blooms

Name: Bunny tail grass (Lagurus ovatus)

Fireworks that last all summer

Name: ‘Frosted Explosion’ switchgrass (Panicum elegans ‘Frosted Explosion’)

Papery jewels that shiver in the breeze

Name: Big quaking grass (Briza maxima)

Beginning in early summer, big quaking grass dons spikelets of puffed seed heads that shimmy in the wind and dangle like green-gold earrings from impossibly fine stems. The seed heads are often described as fairy lanterns, but to me, they have a certain insect quality; perhaps it has to do with their animated heart-shaped “body” or the way they catch the light. Place these slender beauties in tight drifts, 6 to 10 inches apart, where they’ll be backlit against the morning or setting sun, and give them a front-row seat with anything they can hover over without interference. Aggressive self-sowing may be managed somewhat by picking spikelets before they’ve gone to seed and using them in flower arrangements.

Zones: Annual

Bloom time: Late spring to late summer

Size: Up to 2 feet tall and 10 inches wide

Conditions: Full sun; well-drained soil

In warmer climates, these grasses will come back year after year

Windswept tresses

Name: Foxtail barley (Hordeum jubatum)

Nodding sprays of salmon-pink flowers have earned foxtail barley, a native roadside weed, a place in our gardens to wind like a boa through fellow June- and July-flowering plants, like ox-eye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare, Zones 3–8) and black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia spp. and cvs., Zones 3–11). As a cool-season grass, foxtail barley is at its best as late-blooming grasses are still shooting out their leaves. Its luminous plumage fades to beige on barbed seed heads, which shatter and disperse (by attaching to the clothes of passersby) just as the late bloomers are ready to take over the show. Foxtail barley will self-sow in most gardens and in any soil. So the trick after getting it established is simply to edit out any unwanted seedlings—and keep the plant as far as possible from livestock pastures because its seed heads can severely damage a cow’s or horse’s mouth.

Zones: 4 to 8

Bloom time: Early to midsummer

Size: Up to 20 inches tall and 1 foot wide

Conditions: Full sun; fertile, well-drained soil

Coppery mounds of loveliness

Name: Orange New Zealand sedge (Carex testacea and cvs.)

A vision in pink

Name: Ruby grass (Melinis nerviglumis and cvs.)

I would grow ruby grass simply for its blue-green foliage, but when it tops that with silken, feathery pink blooms, I’m a smitten kitten. Ruby grass stands out from the crowd, so don’t put this Baby in a corner. Let it take center stage under a spotlight sun, and watch it dance with a Swayze breeze. If it must blend with a crowd, place it along a front edge or tucked neatly into a ground cover. As the flowers turn to seed heads, they become a tea-stained color before blowing away. Deadheading to keep it in bloom isn’t necessary. But the flowers do last in arrangements, so you might as well use them.

Zones: 8 to 10

Bloom time: Midsummer

Size: 18 to 24 inches tall and 12 to 18 inches wide

Conditions: Full sun; fertile, well-drained soil

Bright, feathery tassels

Name: Feathertop grass (Pennisetum villosum)

Fountain grasses are known for their fluffy blooms, but none is as cream-puffy as feathertop grass. Fountain grasses are also well known for their gracefully flowing foliage; here, again, feathertop grass takes the cake. Endless narrow blades form a generous hoop skirt of foliage to support flounces of flowers beginning in August and continuing to a hard frost. Sow no more than two or three seeds per pot, and plan to give this one its full 2-foot-wide allotment of space to keep it from sitting on its neighbors.

Zones: 8 to 10

Bloom time: Mid-to-late summer

Size: Up to 2 feet tall and wide

Conditions: Full sun; fertile, well-drained soil

A glamorous redhead

Name: Red hook sedge (Uncinia uncinata ‘Rubra’)

New Zealand native red hook sedge shines with its own odd light. Roughly curled and folded red blades erupt into a dense clump and send up dark flower spikes in late summer. One red hook sedge would be pretty enough as a garnet pendant in a container, but as a beaded necklace strung around the garden, it would be even lovelier. Let it provide a contrast with extraleafy plants, like bergenia (Bergenia spp. and cvs., Zones 3–9) or lettuces; how monochromatically chic it would be with the red-leaf lettuce varieties, like ‘Lolla Rossa’. Where it isn’t hardy, bring in red hook sedge and place it in a cool window for the winter. Comb out dead blades in early spring to make room for fresh growth.

Zones: 8 to 11

Bloom time: Late summer

Size: 12 to 14 inches tall and wide

Conditions: Partial to full shade; moist to boggy soil

Shifting shades of steel

Name: Blue wheatgrass (Elymus magellanicus)

When garden conditions are perfect, the slender blades of blue wheatgrass fall outward from a central clump, and they shift in the light from sterling silver to aqua­marine. When conditions are imperfect—as when the soil is bone dry or the summers are hot and humid—the leaves are likely to tarnish with a rust fungus or scorch to crisps. The only thing to do is give this grass everything it wants: partial mid­summer shade, the best soil, and regular irrigation for resplendent and shimmering blueness. In warm zones, it will be everblue but should always be cut back in early spring to make way for new growth and modest May flowers.

Zones: 6 to 10

Bloom time: Midspring

Size: 1 to 2 feet tall and wide

Conditions: Full sun; moist, well-drained soil

1. Start in late winter or early spring, sowing three to six seeds per pot in fine-textured potting soil. Cover them lightly with the same soil. Check the package for any specific sowing instructions; if there are none, assume that the seeds will need only light, heat, and moisture to germinate.

Place the pots indoors on a sunny windowsill or under grow lights. If you don’t have a heating mat, move trays from their window sunbeams or grow lights to the top of the refrigerator at night, or water the pots with tepid water.

2. Keep the soil moist as seedlings develop. The more tightly packed they are in their pots, the more crucial it is to keep an eye on moisture levels as their roots fill in.