Native Plants
Bring the Beauty of the Prairie to Your Garden
Achieve a naturalistic look in your landscape with a beautiful mix of perennials and grasses planted in drifts
Prairie-style planting — long-lived perennials and ornamental grasses planted in large swaths akin to a meadow — is one of the strongest and most fashionable movements in gardening right now. Inspired by the flowers of natural prairies, it’s a look full of movement, light and color. It mimics nature in all its layers of planting, adding extra interest through the seasons.
Because many perennials are fast-growing, this type of planting can make a quick impact with lots of color and texture. It also suits gardens big and small. If you like this look, here are some ideas to think about for prime planting season this fall.
Because many perennials are fast-growing, this type of planting can make a quick impact with lots of color and texture. It also suits gardens big and small. If you like this look, here are some ideas to think about for prime planting season this fall.
Buy in bulk. We all make the mistake of going to the garden center or nursery and purchasing one of each plant that catches our eye. But no matter how small your garden, think in multiples. To achieve a prairie-style space, you need to plant sweeps of perennials in broad brushstrokes.
In this garden, Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’ plays a major role on the autumn stage, flowering until the first frosts, and even after flowering, it has lovely seed heads for the winter garden. It contrasts well here with other fall-flowering plants like Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ and Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firetail’.
In this garden, Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’ plays a major role on the autumn stage, flowering until the first frosts, and even after flowering, it has lovely seed heads for the winter garden. It contrasts well here with other fall-flowering plants like Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ and Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firetail’.
Be repetitive. Whether your garden is big or small, you can adapt this style to work for your space. Repetition is key, with a simple palette that repeats in a rhythmic way or threads through the design. Nature rarely dots one of this and one of that, but rather tends toward abundance, scattering seeds or plants generously in an area.
Vary flower shapes. Once you start to look, you realize how different flowers are — not only in color but also in shape. Some flowers, such as foxgloves and salvias, are like spires. Some, including many allium varieties, are round. There are button shapes (Knautia, Astrantia), daisies and umbrellas, as well as some flowers that are fluffy and frothy. Contrasting one shape with another adds interest and variety. The simpler your color palette, the more you can appreciate these differences in form. Some shapes look good grouped together, others dotted among the planting. If in doubt, always ask yourself how they would look in their natural habitat, and take your inspiration from that.
Plan for all seasons. Layer plants for seasonal interest. By winter and early spring, many perennials and grasses have died back, so make sure you have color in the early months of the year by planting lots of bulbs. Crocuses, snowdrops, anemones, daffodils and tulips will pop up one after the other from January until late April, by which time the perennials and grasses will have started to appear and take up where the bulbs left off.
6 Splendid Blue-Flowering Bulbs
6 Splendid Blue-Flowering Bulbs
Follow nature. Nature’s not that neat; plants don’t keep to themselves, but rather weave in and out of others, growing up through them and around them — so encourage yours to do the same. The trick is to choose some plants that are very fine-stemmed and insubstantial, which will contrast well with solid types like daisies. Here, coneflowers and Veronicastrum combine in an elegantly messy way with fennel.
Add alliums. Light grasses, such as Nassella tenuissima, allow bulbs and other perennials to push up between them and even lend support. Here, floating above the other layers, is one of the tallest alliums: ‘Mount Everest’, a bulb planted in autumn that flowers in June. It gives the planting a distinctive air. Alliums come in lots of colors, from purple to blue to white. There are even some yellow ones. Some (Allium cristophii, A. schubertii) have giant heads, which add fun and interest to a design. Others are small but add pinpoints of color when dotted through the grasses (A. sphaerocephalon is a good example of this type). The larger ones can be expensive but are a worthwhile addition to the perennial mix.
Work in a shrub or two. Shrubs can also be added to the mix, but less is definitely more. They should have lots to offer in terms of interest, particularly in the foliage. Here, Cotinus ‘Grace’, or Smoke Tree, with its long stems and large purple leaves, fits right in and picks up on the purple flowers of Verbena bonariensis. Shrubs with good autumn color, berries or hips also work really well with this style of planting. These include the many euonymus varieties and ‘Laciniata’ staghorn sumac, because of its relaxed growth habit.
Create a winter wonderland. One of the pleasures of opting for prairie-style planting is learning to appreciate the beauty of winter foliage and seed heads. Often augmented by winter frost or snow, they can give a garden a lovely atmosphere and add a sculptural quality. Preserving the seed heads of flowers also provides feeding areas for birds during the cold winter months, plus nesting spots for insects to hibernate.
10 Native Wildflowers to Beautify Your Winter Garden
10 Native Wildflowers to Beautify Your Winter Garden
Connect with your surroundings. If you’re lucky enough to live in the countryside, this naturalized planting style works really well with the colors of the landscape around it. It therefore brings a little of the great outdoors into your garden and allows your patch to fit more softly into its surroundings.
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Why Fall Is the Best Time for Planting
Focus on grasses. The many varieties of ornamental grasses add immeasurably to this style of planting. Grasses are one of the most common plant types in nature, so they underpin that natural meadow effect. They play a supporting role through the growing season for colorful perennials, and in the autumn, they come into their own with beautiful glowing reds, yellows and golds. They also have a wide variety of striking luminescent flower heads. Most aren’t fussy about soil conditions and are easy to maintain, just needing cutting back or tidying in the spring before they start growing again.