Going down rabbit holes is easy when investigating plants, and 'Pamela Harper' mondo grass led this garden rebel to its namesake, a highly regarded garden writer and photographer who died in 2023. She immigrated to the United States in 1968 and photographed plants wherever she travelled, eventually creating the Harper Horticulture Library. Being a woman in a male-dominated industry, Ms. Harper had to stand firm on her prices for image usage and speaking engagements, often encountering pushback from "colleagues." 

That said, 'Pamela Harper' mondo grass adds a spot of evergreen color and movement to the shadier spots of the garden with its 10-inch, cream-and-green blades of grass, eventually growing into mounds about 18 inches across. Pale lavender flowers appear on short stalks, then morph into cobalt blue seeds later in the year, though the grass tends to hide them. Tuck this variegated grass into planters or mix into borders as a ground cover for a year-round presence.