Foundation Plantings

I would like to plant ornamental grasses along the North and West foundation of my home. My concern is w/o the traditional rock/plastic/shrub set-up, I don't have a way for the rain water to be directed away from the foundation wall. Should I be concerned about this? I haven't had water in my basement before. Currently, the North side of the house is just rock and plastic - no shrubs - extending about 4 feet from the foundation. The North side is the same only extending about 18" to 2 feet from the foundation. I have been toying with the idea of digging down a foot or so, grading away from the foundation, laying plastic down, the put the soil back on top of the plastic in which to plant the grasses on. Is this a crazy idea or even necessary?

Depends on the existing conditions. If you get a lot of water against that side of the house, and on the roof then directing it away from the foundation is pretty important.
Have you looking into camouflaging the pipe with some rocks? Bigger rock, not the plastic sheeting and little pebbles. Make it something like a rock garden effect.

The soil can probably handle the rain and snow melt from whatever lands right there, it is the extra coming off the roof that I would worry about.

If there really is so much water (rain, snow) landing on the soil that the water moves sideways through the soil into the basement then a proper drainage system might be needed. The concept is commonly called a French drain. It is a pipe in a deep trench that is filled with rock. Any water that is moving sideways through the soil gets stopped by the rock and directed into the pipe. The pipe carries the water away. There needs to be somewhere down hill from the area so the pipe will drain. You can set up 2 pipes: one is a perforated pipe to pick up the sub surface water, the other is solid and picks up water from the down spouts and any surface drains.

Diana's advice is good. When I lived in Duluth, I was in an area close to Lake Superior, known for having wet basements, due to the largely clay soil, and the fact that the area was downhill from the rest of the city. Every basement had sump pumps, but I decided to take a further step, and hired a landscaper to add extra protection around the base of the house. They added a 3 ml plastic, and covered it generously with rock, all around the foundation. About four years ago, Duluth had flooding, due to heavy rainfall over two days. Neighbors across the street had flooding, but my basement stayed dry. I'm not sure if they trenched to place the rock below the surface level, but that would be smart.

Given recent changes in the environment, with more frequent heavy downfalls, I think solutions such as the french drain system Diana shows, or at the least, raising the waterproof area around the foundation, as I did, is a reasonable and affordable action, which could potentially save you from expensive water damage. I don't know that everyone needs this, but some houses would benefit from it.