Its impossible to say because you don't say what kind of grass? What zone? How late were they planted in fall?

Warm season grasses won't show growth until the soil and air temperatures warms into the 70's or so. Here in Oklahoma they are all coming along because we have been very warm for a month but further north they'd all still be totally dormant.

Cool season grasses should be showing growth if you are having spring-like temperatures at all.

I planted a Hameln in zone 5 in early fall and am still waiting for signs of like. It is a warm season grass so I think it's too soon to tell if it's dead yet.

I am in the Detroit area and some of my grasses don't show any growth at all yet. As Tesasranger2 says, it is still too early for many grasses if you are in the north.

So if my neighbor's grasses have started showing growth, should i assume mine are dead?

Not necessarily, Emily. It depends on a few other factors. Exposure, soil consistency, etc. Clay soils, like mine, take longer to warm up than sandy or loamy soils, and my beds may not be oriented the same way or have something shading them. My micoclimate is also a little cooler in general than my neighbors. So, my plants take a little bit longer to wake up than do my neighbor's.

Also, which grass matters a lot. There is warm season season grasses, which actively grow during the late spring and summer, and cool season grasses which actively grow in the spring and fall and are otherwise pretty much dormant in summer. So, if your neighbors are growing a feather reed (cool season) and you've got a fountain grass (warm season), theirs will be starting to grow and actually be pretty large by the time yours even think about waking up. Even some warm season grasses are a bit slower than others. My little bluestems start putting out new growth a couple weeks before my panicums and both are significantly earlier than my blue gramas.

However, at this point, I would be expecting something going on, if yours are still not growing, there is a good chance they did not make it.

I am just now starting to see some shoots from my Panicum virgatum 'Cloud Nine', a warm season grass. Whereas my Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster' plants, a cool season grass, have been growing for weeks.

This is a very, very old post but super helpful! I bought 3 zebra grasses last summer and was worried about not seeing any shoots (RI Zone 7B). I almost pulled them but I checked the roots and they're still alive. Thanks for cleaning up the difference between ornamental grasses!

Agreed. This is a great post. Just saved me quite a bit of work for my fountain grass