BLOWIN' IN THE WIND

Native Grasses Reintroduced to Oklahoma Prairie Garden

WRITTEN BY Jimi Underwood, Horticulturist

Last year Canadian goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) overtook large portions of the Oklahoma Prairie Garden, located on Reno Avenue just east of the entrance to the Visitor Center of the Crystal Bridge. As one of the many gardens within Myriad Botanical Gardens, the Oklahoma Prairie Gardens fosters prairie plants native to Oklahoma and supports native insects and wildlife. This goldenrod is not a native of the state and can be extremely aggressive, tending to form monocultures that exclude other plants. In an attempt to help other prairie plants, the Garden’s horticulture team attempted to remove it. If anyone seeing the prairie garden during winter thought it looked thinner than normal, this is one of the reasons why.

Blazing Star. Liatris spicata

Photo by Carl Shortt Jr.

To help the garden thrive, this year we will focus on reestablishing the prairie grasses, so here are a few new things to keep an eye on in the prairie garden this year. First, we will reintroduce and add seed from a variety of different prairie grass including:

• Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curipendula)

• Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)

• Blue Grama (Bouteloua gracilis)

• Buffalograss (Bouteloua dactyloides)

• Big Bluestem (Andropogon geradii)

• Indiangrass (Sorgastrum nutans)

• Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)

• Eastern Gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides)

• Virginia Wildrye (Elymus virginicus), and

• Prairie Wildrye (E. canadensis)

Throughout the spring and summer, the prairie garden will be mowed and trimmed to help many of these grasses establish. This does not mean the prairie forbs, or flowering plants other than grasses, won’t be present this year. Plugs of favorites and common prairie forbs will be planted as well, adding to the existing diversity and color throughout the year.

Buffalo Grass

Photo by Carl Shortt Jr

Ever wonder why plants have both common names – goldenrod – and scientific Latin names – Solidago canadensis?

A Swedish naturalist named Carl Linnaeus developed the two-name system in the mid-1700s. As a universal language, Latin ensures uniform plant identification that can be recognized by gardeners and scientists around the world. The system groups plants by similarity, combining the genus and species of the plant.

If you have questions about the prairie garden, please feel free to contact Nate Tschaenn, director of horticulture, ntschaenn@myriadgardens.org.