Well, Its been a long and miserable winter up here in the armpit of the nation, but, we finally succeeded in getting our prairie restoration project underway and on the ground.

We planted 5.2 acres back into native prairie and wildflowers. To the North and west of the barn, we put a tall prairie grasses, and to the south and east of the barn, we put in short grass prairie, with lots of forbs (wildflowers).

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This will be the worst year, appearance wise, and Im not looking forward to it. I wanted to seed last year, and maybe have something this year, but the "expert" I am working with, suggested planting soybeans (roundup ready) so I could have a firm soil bed to plant in, and also take care of the weed seed bank, that will help make sure that I dont have nearly as many weeds to contend with this year.

So, there wont be any pictures of anything very nice this year around here, this year, unless something truly unexpected happens.

Heres what we put in:

PRAIRIE RESTORATION

Tall Grass Prairie :

Big Bluestem

Indian Grass

Switch Grass

and a little canada wild rye

Short Grass Prairie:

Blue Grama, Northern Dropseed,

Bottle Brush Grass, Prairie Dropseed,

Buffalo Grass, Prairie June Grass,

Little Blue Stem, Side Oats Grama,

Virginia Wild Rye

Wildflowers:

Black Eyed Susan, Long Headed Coneflower, Prairie Larkspur, Cardinal Flower,

Canada Milk Vetch, Pale Purple Coneflower, Royal Catchfly ,Prairie Smoke,

Oxeye Sunflower, Smooth Blue Aster, Narrow-leaved Coneflower, Lead Plant,

Golden Alexander, Butterfly Milkweed, Heart Leaved Aster, Round Headed Bush Clover,

Yellow Coneflower, New England Aster, Columbine, Marsh Marigold,

Hoary Vervain, Prairie Sage, Blanket Flower, Blue Vervain,

Illinois Bundleflower, Plains Coreopsis, Blue Flax, Silky Aster,

Maximillian Sunflower, Prairie Lupine, Lance-leaved Coreopsis, Wild Blue Indigo,

Partridge Pea, Hollow Joe Pye Weed, Prairie Blazingstar, Bushs Coneflower,

Prairie Coneflower, Compass Plant, Gray-headed Coneflower, Turtlehead,

Purple Prairie Clover, Button Blazing Star, Upright Prairiecone, Prairie Coreopsis,

Rattlesnake Master, Rough Blazing, Star Dwarf Red Coreopsis, Pitcher Sage

Red Plains Coreopsis, Yellow Prairie Coneflower Perennial Lupine

White Prairie Clover Orange Prairie Coneflower, Lemon Mint,

Wild Bergamo,t Indian Paintbrush, Mexican Red Hat

As I look out over the plantings right now, I see a light blanket of snow, covering all the seed and about a million birds trying to rob me of everything I put out there. Some of the seeds for this platings, are quite expensive, for the few that you get, but all in all, I spent about $2k in seeds, planting 5.2 acres, One can only hope, that the birds stay on my property, and redeposit the seeds in a different spot. hehehe.

Heres hoping that spring arrives soon. I am a huge lover of winter, but this is quite rediculous, It's still below freezing here this morning, but it looks like the weather is finally going to break.

Maybe we'll come out of the cold, and right into the heat, and slow down the cool season grasses a little.

Any suggestions?

I'm tempted to keep buying forb seeds and adding or should I just wait it out and see what I get?