Unlike normal lawn grass, ornamental grasses are designed to be part of your lawn’s aesthetic design as opposed to being functional. Many people use ornamental grasses as part of their overall landscaping design anyway, but they also work wonderfully in winter time. Generally being very hardy, all they basically require is good soil and sun to grow and thrive. However, as is graphically illustrated by Ireland for example, even without a lot sun many grasses still grow very aggressively as long as they receive enough water. The range or ornamental grasses is also quite astounding, ranging from liriope, or "lilyturf" (Liriope spicata) that naturally grows to about twelve inches to incredibly dramatic options like Giant Chinese Silver Grass (Miscanthus floridus 'Gigantes') which can grow to be twelve feet tall.
The best idea is to use ornamental grasses that have a great appearance throughout the year. A great example of this is Zebra Grass (Miscanthus sinensis 'Zebrinus') which grows to about eight feet tall. During the summer it adopted a fountain-like posture made of gold-barred green blades. However, it also works wonderfully in the winter as well. The second it is not actively laid down with snow and ice, it springs up to its full height. Further, its brittle blades are extremely light and move with even the smallest breeze and create a beautiful rustling sound.
One problem that many people encounter with ornamental grasses that live in the winter, especially in suburban and country settings, is that deer will come and eat the grass. While some people may like the idea of attracting deer to their yards in the winter, more often than not they come at night and just leave tracks and droppings behind. One solution to this problem is to use deer resistant ornamental grasses, i.e. grasses that deer do not like to eat. These include Blue Oat grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens) and Northern Sea Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium). These grasses can still be quite pretty in winter, but the deer will not be interested in eating them.
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