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

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.

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.

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.

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.