The Prairie Garden 2020 | Inspired by the north American prairies

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Lee, Glen, and Maureen Lee. Saskatchewan Wildflowers website, www.saskwildflower.ca. Comprehensive photographic documentation by respected naturalists. Manitoba Association of Plant Biologists website, www.mapb. ca. Publications include species lists, e.g. plants of Assiniboine Forest (Winnipeg) and ferns. Nature Manitoba. Naturescape Manitoba. Winnipeg: Manitoba Naturalists Society, 2006. This practical and informative book “for people who want to bring back a bit of the natural world to their surroundings” is still in print and available directly from Nature Manitoba. Includes extensive reference tables for regional flora and fauna. Scoggan, H.J. Flora of Manitoba. Bulletin 140 of Biological Series 47, Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources. Ottawa: National Museum of Canada, 1957. The standard, comprehensive reference, available in any good research library. Vance, F.R., J.R. Jowsey, J.S. McLean, and F.A. Switzer. Wildflowers Across the Prairies, with a New Section on Grasses, Sedges and Rushes. 3rd ed. Vancouver: Greystone Books, 1999. An illustrated reference by experts based in Saskatchewan. Appears to be out of print, but still available from used book dealers.

INSPIRED BY THE NORTH AMERICAN PRAIRIES BY LIANNE POT Lianne Pot is a Dutch garden designer and owner of Lianne’s Siergrassen (www.prairiegarden.info), a nursery that holds the official Dutch collection of grasses and includes a large prairie garden. She specializes in the use of prairie grasses and perennials in garden design.

I n the 2014 edition of The Prairie Garden, I wrote about my ornamental grass nursery in the Netherlands and my passion for designing with the grasses and perennials of the North American prairie. I am honoured to have the opportunity to return to the subject here and tell you about our now over ten-yearold prairie garden at the nursery. Mature and thriving, it continues to inspire our visitors with ideas for using grasses as solitary plants, in groups, as groundcovers with or

without flowering perennials, in borders, or in pots.

How I came to know the North American prairie Although I started my nursery in 2000 and have maintained the official Dutch collection of grasses (Poaceae) for many years, I only became interested in prairie plants in 2006. I learned that they grow very deep, with their roots finding water and feeding themselves. After seeing the prairie biotope examples at the

Lianne Pot’s grass collection in August

3. Nurseries Specializing in Native Plants and Seeds of the Northern Prairies The online catalogues of these and other regional nurseries provide detailed information about native species and their growing requirements: • Blazing Star Wildflower Seed Co. (Aberdeen, Saskatchewan) • BluPrairie Native Plant Nursery (Watertown, Minnesota) • Prairie Flora Greenhouse (Teulon, Manitoba) • Prairie Moon Nursery (Winona, Minnesota) • Prairie Nursery Native Plants and Seeds (Newton, Wisconsin) • Prairie Originals Wildflowers and Native Grasses (Selkirk, Manitoba) • Wild About Flowers (Okotoks, Alberta)

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