I've been interested in ornamental grasses for over a year now. There were two unrelated events that pointed the way for me. One was spending the last 7 years rehabilitating our own lawn after the previous homeowners let it go a bit. That taught me all about how our yard behaves over multiple seasons.

The other event was playing Minecraft with my two boys. Yes, Minecraft. While my kids were primarily interested in adventuring and battling zombies, I was intrigued by the architectural and landscape design side of the gameplay. Go look it up, there's an entire online community devoted to this. Minecraft allowed me to quickly and easily build and then instantly see what works and what doesn't, all with the added benefit of multiple perspectives. It could be designing building exteriors, planting trees or even arranging different ornamental grasses. Doing this bridged my interest from the digital to the real world.

This book covers the basics on how to get started with grasses no matter what climate zone you live in. And while grasses in general are preferred if you want something low maintenance, unlike flowers for example, you'll quickly learn that depending on the kind of garden you want you'll still have a fair bit of maintenance to contend with. This is also true if you plant thoughtlessly without doing your homework. I'm certainly guilty of this. But it's all a labor of love if you've committed to the outcome. ( )

Versatile partners for uncommon garden designs