For Spring Color

• For brilliant, early-season color, the University of Minnesota Extension recommends hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra "Aureola") with wild blue phlox (Phlox divaricata). Hakone grass grows from 1 to 3 feet tall and has arching, golden fronds that grow in clumping mounds. Hakone grass grows well in sun to shade and moist, fertile, well-drained soil. It is hardy in zones 4 to 8. Phlox, a perennial, grows from 8 to 18 inches tall and blooms with butterfly-attracting blue, white, red, pink and purple blooms through spring. Phlox prefers partial shade and rich, moist soils.
  
  

For Autumn Color

• Choose a mixture of grasses and late-blooming perennials to enliven a fall landscape. The Colorado State University Extension recommends a combination of blue oats grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillata) and "Autumn Joy" sedums (Sedum spp.). Blue oats grass grows to 2-1/2 feet tall in dense clumps of silver-blue foliage. It grows well in sun to shade in USDA zones 4 to 9. Little bluestem grows from 2 to 4 feet tall and has upright, narrow foliage that ranges from bright green to light blue. It is hardy in zones 4 to 10 and prefers full sun. Add yellow-flowering coreopsis, with its thread-like, attractive foliage that grows to 18 inches tall, and the low-growing, pink to red flowers of sedum for a bright splash of fall color.
  
  

To Complement Annuals

• The University of Florida IFAS Extension suggests using medium-height ornamental grasses as accents with annuals. Sedge grasses, such as palm sedge, (Carex muskingumensis), grow to heights between 2 and 3 feet tall by the end of the growing season. This grass has green, arching fronds that turn yellow in fall and grow in a dense mass. It produces early summer flowers and prefers full sun to partial shade and moist soil. Plant annuals such as wax begonias (Begonia semperflorens) with sedge. These low-growing, 6- to 12-inch annuals bloom with white, pink and red flowers from spring through fall. Like the sedge grass, they prefer moist soil and thrive in partial shade.
  
  

To Complement Wildflowers

• The Ohio State University Extension suggests planting eulalia grass (Miscanthus sacchariflorus) with a mass of tall wildflowers. Eulalia grass grows from 4 to 6 feet tall and produces white inflorescenes on 5 to 7-foot-tall stalks in midsummer. It is hardy to zone 4 and prefers full sun to partial shade and moist to wet soils. Companion wildflowers include the puttyroot (Aplectrum hyemale), which grows to 20 inches tall and prefers moist, rich soil. It produces clusters of purple, yellow and white flowers in summer. The wild columbine (Aquilegia Canadensis) grows to 3 feet tall and prefers partial shade and fertile, moist soil. It blooms in spring with nodding, red to yellow flowers.