At this point, prairie perennials can easily be 2-3 feet tall here, while little bluestem is under five inches, and dropseed is maybe 8-10 inches. So unless you have a good proportion of native grass, you're not going to see much of it. You don't say what the proportion of grass was in your original mix. I think the mistake that lots of us make is to start out with too many forbs and not enough graasses--I know I certainly did, and it's a mistake that's very hard to correct because the grasses grow so slowly and take so long to get established.

My prairie gardens are smaller and were started from bareroot plants, not seed, and I simply hand-pull weeds, so I can't answer your maintenance questions--but there are many people on this forum who can. But it sounds like you should have started with more native grasses.

April: you are in the epicenter of the prairie restoration world, with many experienced folks from the supplier side and from the implementation side. But I bet you know that already.

The WildOnes chapters of the upper Midwest probably have a great primer on the perils/joys of prairie installations, and from a variety of sites/viewpoints. From Milwaukee, Madison, multiple greater Chicago chapters, etc. they've probably "plowed this ground" a zillion times. From my distant KY perspective, where I've experienced doing this task in several of our public parks in Louisville (from several small sites of a couple thousand square feet to the largest encompassing about 40 acres), you have described pretty much the average expectation for a residential site. Short of soil sterilization to eliminate everything ahead of time, you are getting the usual suspects germinating that have relatively large seed banks in your soil. The forbs that you've added are the easiest to observe coming on first, and easiest to ID as to what they are. The new grasses you've added are typically slower, and harder to separate by ID from weedier species especially when very young. But keep the faith!

Composition/distribution of grasses vs. forbs is so subjective. It boils down to what YOU want to see, or what is typical for your region ecologically. I personally don't believe there is a "right" answer unless the intention is restoration ecology, and I believe you've stated that isn't your situation. Work we've done here in Louisville is based on most of the grasses being more aggressive fillers over time, so starting with more forbs is a smart way to go, and let the grasses catch up. The forbs will provide "showier" effects sooner, and as some are displaced by the grasses taking hold, the balance you are after will evolve. The hardpan could end up being your limiting factor, since lots of prairie plants want to have rather deep root systems. If this is the condition, then those plants that can tolerate the hardpan will win out. As you described the initial site condition, QAL/ragweed/goldenrod/ironweed/teasel/thistles are the usual suspects in droughty soils.

Since this is a long term effort, something that can be successful is to start seeds of the plants you are missing in flats or pots, while you manage what is successful in the prairie, and then add the seedlings as plugs or larger starts into the program a year or two down the line. Biggest and best strategy is to wear down the seed bank of invasives and don't let them reproduce.

Howdy
Patience. One of my plantings is in a rocky, almost glade type area. It is four years old and the first two years only tickseed coreopsis and indian paintbrush showed up. last year I got more species, and this year I am finding stuff that I had not seen previously,both grasses and forbs.
I would try to prvent the undesireable plants from going to seed. If the area is small a weed whacker is a good way to selectivly decapitate undesireables.

Just a question - why is the goldenrod (Solidago spp.) a problem? We encourage ours!

Jill, the prevalent species of solidago in this little area is extremely aggressive and spreads by rhizomes. It is way too much of a good thing, my prairie is only 500 sq ft, and it would take it over completely if I let it. I'm just getting over a near monoculture of echinacea...I don't want to let another monoculture take over.

Elaine, the seed mix I used was about 50% or 60% grasses to forbs, so I think the mix was right. 1/2 of my prairie I'm doing in plugs, the other half was seeded. So far, the plug half of the prairie (250 sq ft)has about $150 worth of plugs in it. The seeded half has cost $35 dollars. Plugs are a great way to go, if you can afford it!

Viburnum, I'm only doing a re-creation...but I did use a mix of seed that had a good amount of grasses in it, the 50 to 60% mentioned above. Prairie Moon's mixed height prairie mix. I'll probably do a burn on it this fall, it think it'll be old enough to take it by then.

Rudy...I think that's the way I'll go...selective Round-up or weed whacking of the noxious ones! I will practice my patience.... ;-) April