Trying to ID my numerous field grasses using my trusty Plants of the Pacific NW field guide. I'm leaning toward velvet grass for this guy - Holcus lanatus. It's quite tall, perhaps 5' and I find it at the edge of our pond so apparently likes water. Thoughts? If you open the photo and enlarge it, you can get more detail.

It really does like Holcus lanatus to me. It is very common over here in humid places, my brother has it growing on his land with a high water tabel.
Nice picture!
Common Velvetgrass (Holcus lanatus)

Thanks Myriam. I had checked your photos in the database and found mine slightly different, but then noted that your photos came from Belgium so there may be some diversity between our regions. Plus the difference in stage of growth. The photo in my field guide is almost identical to my photo, so I think I'll mark this as solved. Nice to put a name to a familiar plant, and such a descriptive name it is -- this grass is really soft to the touch. Take care.

I agree it looks like Holcus lanatus, the only thing which I was unsure of is the height of around 5 feet. I doubt it could reach that height even in the most favourable conditions.

http://keyserver.lucidcentral....

This species can be distinguished from H. mollis by the beardless nodes on its culm, the absence of rhizomes, and the awn becoming hooked when dry and not projecting beyond the tips of the glumes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

http://www.thewildflowersociet...

http://canope.ac-besancon.fr/f...

http://canope.ac-besancon.fr/f...

Holcus mollis doesn't usually have the purple colouring, nor does it grow to 5 feet tall.

http://www.plant-identificatio...

The height is still a worrying factor, is there a similar looking species of grass?

Some more in-depth illustration of Holcus lanatus, the height described is about 30-90 cm (1-3ft)
http://wilde-planten.nl/gestre...

I was trying to guess the height from memory rather than reality, and perhaps had it mixed up with other pasture grasses or reeds down by the pond. I know there is something down there that gets really tall. But, looking at this particular grass now, it is topping out at about 3'. Sorry for the misinformation/confusion.

P.S. I love the diligence of the ID forum