Question
I watched a program on one of the Victoria channels and it had all different types of grasses, not the ones for lawns but for your garden.  Is there any type of information in a magazine, book, etc about grass scapes:

Answer
Victoria, Australia?!  Neat. (Unless, you mean Victoria, Texas, or Victoria, Africa or Vicoria, British Columbia).

YES.  Grass-scapes are a great substitute for lawn or standard planters.  They offer high visibility, and lower maintenance than a standard planted area.

There are lots of web resources and printed books on the subject. The design principles are the same; just substitute the locally available plant materials.

There are basically 4 different types of grasses to design with.  They are: the fescues, Miscanthus, switchgrasses, and the fountain grass.

Fescue: This cool season grass grows in clumps, and requires protection from the hot afternoon sun. Blue foliage is the most popular.

Miscanthus: Also clumping, and considered the showiest group of warm season, sometimes with showy flowers. A large group with variability in height, blade width, etc. Select cultivars that are hardy and adaptation to your site limitations.

Switch grass: Native to the U.S, this is a warm-season, clump-forming grass with new cultivars introduced each year.  It can have fall colors and blue foliage.  Upright cultivars are popular.

Fountain grass: Mostly warm-season, also a clump forming grass. They can look weedy.  There are both annual and perennial types valuable, and their flowers can be showy and foxtail-like in appearance.

The perennial types that turn brown during the cold months shouldn't be planted next to structures, as this could pose a fire hazard when they go dormant.  They do "leaf" out again in the Spring (though for you in Australia, that would be the Fall?)

For design ideas, try this link -

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/grasses.html

A really good publication from the University of Tennessee about grasses is found at -

http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/pbfiles/PB1626.pdf

In Australia, try this site for available substitutes -
http://ilda.sitesuite.ws/page/lawns.html


Good luck!