Good point about seed timing, when I have planted prairie seeds in the spring I usually had them at least in the freezer first or tried to stratify them myself first. I have planted seeds both spring and fall at my former house and some 'empty' land I still own. Where I am now I have a few times smothered patches of dirt with plywood or cardboard and then sown it in the fall with seeds I have saved from other areas of my property, and 2 that I bought (blue flax and purple coneflower.) We do have a LOT of native prairie and woodland plants here, and I assure you they mostly brought themselves here. The land was owned by my family for almost 50 years. I have seen photos from long ago and it was clearly a big cultivated field before my family moved in. If you leave land alone long enough, the native species come out as well as weeds. A combination of seed bank, wind, birds, and animals. I keep finding trilliums popping up here and there, and we have a few nice patches of False Solomon's seal. Those aren't prairie plants, but they are definitely native plants that came to call. We have lovely wild violets everywhere we mow. Besides some lovely types of goldenrod and both white and purple asters, we also have purple prairie clover, violet monarda, cinquefoil, milkweed, yarrow, wild strawberries, coreopsis, white and purplish fleabane, and several things I can't think of the name of right off. Introduced by me were the black-eyed susans and purple coneflower (it's great to give your mother plants and then buy her house later and have them there) and a tenant introduced wild geraniums. We also have some interesting grasses which I cannot name for you, side-oats grama (?) and foxtail are 2 I actually know the name of. I assure you most of the wild plants put themselves here. My family was always into organic gardening, which helped. Wild trees even grow, like wild plum, painful but great smelling this time of year, and blackhaw, which I have found is very rare in WI and only found in 2 counties. We also have many red currant, gooseberry, and high bush cranberry bushes all over, mainly planted by birds. So humans interfered once in a while, my father planted fruit trees all over, and we plant vegies and flowers here and there. Some areas were mowed at some times, mostly just paths, so nature has had a lot of time to do her work. We would mow more now if our mower worked. :-) A non-native specie that I now consider a prairie plant is mullein, which I love, as birds perch on it and eat the seeds. Anyway, what my point was supposed to be is that if given enough time and some native species, you will attract wildlife, and get more native species via them. So it is a matter of gardening by subtraction with occasional strategic additions. Dug, if you like, I can send you some black-eyed susan seeds, these are the tall wild kind, smaller flowers than the modern varieties, but more flowers per plant. In the prairie they are about 2 to 3 feet tall, in a watered garden they get up to 5 feet. They are originally from North Dakota prairie via hubby's great-grandmother, and passed around the family since. They spread themselves very nicely. Marcia

Be careful using boxed mixtures-- you'll get better results from a native mixture that has plants local to your area. If you call your local Native Plant Society or Wild Ones chapter, they should know where to buy seed-- they might even have some extra to share. Here is a link that might be useful: Wild Ones chapters

I am 3 yrs in to a similar project to what you plan to do. Establishing a tallgrass prairie (1/2 -2/3 of a acre) on our property in the country. We have a heavy deer population in our area as we live next to a large block of land that does not allow hunting. I maintain firebreaks through, and around, the entire area. This way I can kill off and plant one small area at a time. Also, when burning, I can burn one or two areas without burning the entire prairie. One thing I am doing differently is actually planting young plants. I winter sow them in containers over the winter to stratify the seed and then plant them out when they are big enough over the course of the summer and fall. Big job, over 1000 plants so far, but that's another story. Back to the deer. From my experience, with over 100 species of forbs and grasses native to the midwest, the deer are a BIG problem. They will not touch any of the sedges or grasses, but, they will eat just about any new growth on forbs...especially this time of year (in the spring). Here, there are certain plants they will devour at any stage of growth - asters, oenothera, and all of the native legumes. I have several dozen small cages I've made from 2' and 3' fencing and I put these over small seedlings as I plant them out - I keep them in place with long landscape staples. After they become established I remove the cages and use them on new plantings. The one thing I've not heard anyone talk about is where they walk. I have lost more plants to them crushing small plants than I have to plants they have browsed too heavily. This could be a problem in your case, not planting seedlings and sowing seed? Make sure to plant at least 50% grasses, not only will deer leave these alone, but they will be the backbone of your project. Not gonna lie, it's going to be tougher than you think it will - woody vegetation, weeds, deer, weather, etc. - but, it is very rewarding. Amazing, the variety of wildlife we see enjoying our tallgrass prairie area.

Thanks for doing this project! Proceed as described above, no need to actually dig. Don't get discouraged if it's not spectacular the first year. In California most seed is naturally distributed in summer, then winter rains produce the show in spring. You still have time to make it happen, but it will get better from year to year. Summer may end up looking crispy and dry, but that is the natural progression for seed production and distribution.(The birds like it!) If you need something more to beautify the area during those 'off' months, look for smaller native evergreen shrubs to add the year-round interest or structure. This will a take a few years to become what you imagine. Gardening requires such patience.