vertex color

[SgWRX]

hello. i have a mesh which is a few blades of grass. i thought it'd be neat to apply vertex color to the center vertices and edge vertices to get some detail. it works and it's pretty simple except for selecting all the vertices is a little tedious. slap a material on with vertex color map in the diffuse slot and voila! dark stripe down the middle and light edges.

 

my question is, is there some way for me to get those vertex colors into the material editor to tweak the colors without having to create complex materials with masks and stuff, using vertex paint?

 

thanks,