As the autumn landscape begins to lose its brilliant beauty, the eye starts roaming in search of something else to feast on. Leaves drift to the ground, solemnly, almost silently. Almost silently, I say. That moment a leaf slides against the surface of the earth a faint rustle – akin to the most delicate, tingling of a tiny little silver bell – may be heard!

With the ear, rather then the eye, tuned to the landscape this time of year, one notices that our visual nature is incredibly useful but at times so deceptively limiting. There’s abundant richness in listening to the sounds of nature – and not just the songbirds.

Walk through the forest or along a road in autumn and you’ll hear what I mean. The weakest breeze causes the most beautiful sounds to form through the pine needles or grassy ditches. The tones seem to replicate the sound of ocean waves crashing. They have a tonic effect on the soul – that almost primal, attractive quality that beckons to be heard.

Perhaps grasses provide the resonant sounds this time of year. Long ago people recognized this and harvested the plants for music-making.

We may tend, for practical purposes, to group grasslike plants together, generalizing that anything with long, strappy green leaves belongs to this family of herbaceous plants. In fact, we could be more specific. Grassy plants may actually be reeds or sedges.

Rushes, reeds and grasses have enjoyed a great many uses in history and were a mainstay of ancient civilizations. They offered a means for food, medicine, clothes, paper and much more. One grassy plant, papyrus, was even used to make boats and rafts.

It may be hard to imagine relatives of your lowly lawn grasses as material for building boats and rafts, yet it’s true. The usefulness of grassy plants extends far and wide. Vibrating reeds cause the beautiful tones of some woodwind instruments; the stems have been used to make bagpipes and reed organs. In the southwestern United States, reeds called carrizo are used in building adobe huts. (It has also been used for thatching.) American Indians collected a sweet substance from the plant and made arrows of the stalks. The leaves served as edible greens and the seeds as a cereal.

Indeed, even today people find these plants useful. While some dreadful and devastating things have happened to the wetlands of Iraq over the past 20 years, Iraqi scientists last year reported a modern use of the ancient papyrus plant. They effectively found ways to cultivate reed beds to purify wastewater from small and remote towns and villages throughout the country. They reported that the plants are effective in suspending solids, pathogens, phosphate and nitrogen.

Unfortunately, around the world reeds and other grassy plants, including sedges, can cause serious ecological problems. Without a doubt, these plants have some invasive qualities that limit their reputation and usefulness. Many are invasive in critical ecological areas, particularly salt marshes and low-lying wetlands. You may have noticed shallow farm ponds in your area overtaken by cattails or spike rush. Are these pretty plants or miserable invasive species? Indeed, one may eat the succulent stems of cattails, but is it a good idea – ecologically speaking – to allow the plant to overrun a shallow pond?

Marshy and boggy areas play a vital role in the ecosystem in that they act as filters for certain potential pollutants. Nature has a wonderful way of crafting a balanced – and delicate – mixture of plant species in these areas. Non-native plants – for example plants that may have been introduced to the landscape as ornamentals, and which “escaped” into the natural landscape – can sometimes easily gain a foothold in wetland areas. Taking root quickly and spreading more aggressively than the indigenous plants, these non-natives tend to form monocultures, supplanting native species and ruining the delicate, functional balance.

Next week: Pampas grass and nutsedge. What to do about these pesky plants?

Diana George Chapin is the NEWS garden columnist. Send horticulture questions to Gardening Questions, 512 North Ridge Road, Montville 04941 or e-mail dianagc@midcoast.com. Selected questions will be answered in future columns. Include name, address and telephone number.