The Prairie Garden 2020 | Inspired by the north American prairies

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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Hermannshof Display and Trial Garden in Weinheim, Germany, I had a great desire to go and see the real prairie. I got that chance for the first time in 2008. I wandered with a teacher through the Konza Prairie in Kansas and also visited the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (Strong City, Kansas) and the Prairie State Park in Missouri. There I saw eastern purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), narrowleaf mountain mint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium), wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), autumn sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale), marsh blazing star (Liatris spicata), rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium), wild lupine (Lupinus perennis), big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis), and many other local natives for the first time in their natural habitat. I loved the prairies and still do for their beautiful, balanced community of plants.

As you probably know, the name prairie (French for “meadow”) was Aerial view of Lianne’s Siergrassen, De Wilp, Netherlands

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given by the early trappers and explorers to the seas of grass they encountered on their journeys through central North America. The prairie once stretched from southern Canada all the way to Mexico. Airy grasses and sturdy perennials grew closely together in communities.

Whether it was short-grass, mixedgrass or tall-grass prairie depended on the climate, soil, and moisture conditions. Prairies grew in full sun on everything from very wet to very dry soil. Hot, dry summers and strong winds ensured that natural fires occurred, so that shrubs and trees did not stand a chance.

Prairie plantings in Europe In Europe, we have found that plants from the tall- and mixed-grass prairie habitats are extremely suitable for use in fertile, moist clay or loam.

The prairie is a model for us because it is the most colourful meadow on earth with the most species. Moreover, these tough plants are adapted to the most difficult conditions – hot summers and cold winters. Because many of them cover the ground quickly and form a closed community, our often aggressive weeds have less chance of breaking through to disrupt the whole. In response to extreme conditions, prairie plants develop a strong, deep root system so that they can survive cold and withstand drought. For me personally, as someone who feels connected with our planet, it is also important that these grasslands take CO2 out of the air and do not need irrigation or pesticides. And since the prairie is a plant community, you don’t have to divide the plants to maintain them.

The prairie plantings in September

North American prairie plants have been part of landscape design in Europe since the 1990s. Ornamental grasses were combined with perennials in a naturalistic style.

Think of black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia), perennial sunflower (Helianthus), aster, switchgrass (Panicum), or phlox (Phlox). In the Netherlands, this style became known as the Dutch Wave and included Piet Oudolf, the designer who continues to inspire and influence the international gardening world.

About twenty years ago, the first professional experiments with prairie planting began in various German botanical gardens such as the Hermannshof in Weinheim and the Berggarten in Hanover. Other European nurseries have also set up test beds in recent years. My own nursery, Lianne’s Siergrassen, started with the establishment of a 3500 m2 prairie garden in 2009.

I would describe it as an artificial ecosystem of several designed plant communities, dynamic and colourful, with lots of different plant

structures, repetition, and movement. They feature various heights and colours and include real prairie plants, but also natural-looking perennials from other continents that are suited by structure, hardiness, or competitive qualities. The individual plants are not as important as the system, which must work as a whole. My goal was not to make an exact copy of the prairie, but to design beautiful, durable plant communities that do not need to be fertilized or irrigated and in which a minimum of weeds arise.

There is still no exact European definition of a prairie garden, but I would say it is a system of long-lived, mainly North American perennials and grasses that form a balance with each other (just like in the prairie…).

It is a dynamic, natural-looking plant community offering varying experiences of colour and texture in the different seasons. The intention of a prairie garden in the Netherlands is that it should be attractive all year round for humans and animals, full of colour and beautiful shapes and 23

Hermannshof Display and Trial Garden in Weinheim, Germany, I had a great desire to go and see the real prairie. I got that chance for the first time in 2008. I wandered with a teacher through the Konza Prairie in Kansas and also visited the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (Strong City, Kansas) and the Prairie State Park in Missouri. There I saw eastern purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), narrowleaf mountain mint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium), wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), autumn sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale), marsh blazing star (Liatris spicata), rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium), wild lupine (Lupinus perennis), big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis), and many other local natives for the first time in their natural habitat. I loved the prairies and still do for their beautiful, balanced community of plants.

As you probably know, the name prairie (French for “meadow”) was Aerial view of Lianne’s Siergrassen, De Wilp, Netherlands

22 The 2020 Prairie Garden

given by the early trappers and explorers to the seas of grass they encountered on their journeys through central North America. The prairie once stretched from southern Canada all the way to Mexico. Airy grasses and sturdy perennials grew closely together in communities.

Whether it was short-grass, mixedgrass or tall-grass prairie depended on the climate, soil, and moisture conditions. Prairies grew in full sun on everything from very wet to very dry soil. Hot, dry summers and strong winds ensured that natural fires occurred, so that shrubs and trees did not stand a chance.

Prairie plantings in Europe In Europe, we have found that plants from the tall- and mixed-grass prairie habitats are extremely suitable for use in fertile, moist clay or loam.

The prairie is a model for us because it is the most colourful meadow on earth with the most species. Moreover, these tough plants are adapted to the most difficult conditions – hot summers and cold winters. Because many of them cover the ground quickly and form a closed community, our often aggressive weeds have less chance of breaking through to disrupt the whole. In response to extreme conditions, prairie plants develop a strong, deep root system so that they can survive cold and withstand drought. For me personally, as someone who feels connected with our planet, it is also important that these grasslands take CO2 out of the air and do not need irrigation or pesticides. And since the prairie is a plant community, you don’t have to divide the plants to maintain them.

The prairie plantings in September

North American prairie plants have been part of landscape design in Europe since the 1990s. Ornamental grasses were combined with perennials in a naturalistic style.

Think of black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia), perennial sunflower (Helianthus), aster, switchgrass (Panicum), or phlox (Phlox). In the Netherlands, this style became known as the Dutch Wave and included Piet Oudolf, the designer who continues to inspire and influence the international gardening world.

About twenty years ago, the first professional experiments with prairie planting began in various German botanical gardens such as the Hermannshof in Weinheim and the Berggarten in Hanover. Other European nurseries have also set up test beds in recent years. My own nursery, Lianne’s Siergrassen, started with the establishment of a 3500 m2 prairie garden in 2009.

I would describe it as an artificial ecosystem of several designed plant communities, dynamic and colourful, with lots of different plant

structures, repetition, and movement. They feature various heights and colours and include real prairie plants, but also natural-looking perennials from other continents that are suited by structure, hardiness, or competitive qualities. The individual plants are not as important as the system, which must work as a whole. My goal was not to make an exact copy of the prairie, but to design beautiful, durable plant communities that do not need to be fertilized or irrigated and in which a minimum of weeds arise.

There is still no exact European definition of a prairie garden, but I would say it is a system of long-lived, mainly North American perennials and grasses that form a balance with each other (just like in the prairie…).

It is a dynamic, natural-looking plant community offering varying experiences of colour and texture in the different seasons. The intention of a prairie garden in the Netherlands is that it should be attractive all year round for humans and animals, full of colour and beautiful shapes and 23

needing little maintenance. A good combination of grasses and perennials forms a sophisticated system that can maintain itself over time.

By using not just cool-season and warm-season prairie plants, but also native European and natural-looking cultivated species that bloom in spring and summer, you can make prairie gardens very attractive in colour as well as in form. In this way, there is also plenty of nectar throughout the whole year for all our beautiful and important insects.

Designing a prairie garden The ratio of grasses and perennials in a prairie garden can vary and is a matter of taste. In a real prairie, 80% consists of grasses and 20% of perennials. In my designs, I use often a ratio of 60% grasses to 40% perennials. Plants should be well distributed and mixed to create a natural, wild-looking planting.

I use different plants for different functions: structural plants, aspect-forming plants, filler plants, and ground covers.

Structural plants are those that have a striking structure for a long time, such as Culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum) or prairie ironweed (Vernonia fasciculata). Their structure can be their total shape or a particular feature like striking leaves or flowers or seed heads. In prairie plantings, these are plants that start slowly, but have high long-term durability. They eventually form an important basis for the plant community. Structural plants often account for 5–10% of the total prairie planting.

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Aspect-forming plants determine the actual appearance, the aspect.

These are plants or groups of plants with clear characteristics such as colour or shape, but not so striking that they immediately stand out.

Examples would be aster or blazing star (Liatris spicata). In a well-constructed prairie garden, each season has at least one aspect-forming plant; hence they have also been called seasonal theme plants. They account for around 25–40% of the total planting.

Filler plants are the often short-lived or self-seeding plants that fill the space until other, more permanent plants are fully grown.

Examples are black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta) and blanket flower (Gaillardia). Filler plants, along with seasonal bulbs, make up approximately 5–10% of the planting.

The final, functional category of plants is ground covers, sometimes also called the matrix. In a prairie planting, these are the grasses like prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis) or little bluestem (Schiza­ chyrium scoparium). Essential for creating a closed, weed-resistant plant community, they account for 40–60% of the total prairie planting.

There are so many plant choices and so many design combinations!

I hope that through my garden and through prairie gardens in general, people will become aware of the possibilities for making sustainable and beautiful gardens even in a time of climate change. Prairie plants make oxygen while absorbing CO2, lowering temperatures, and capturing water. This has great promise for the future!

(www.theprairiegarden.com)

SUPERNATURALISTIC

THE NEW PERENNIAL POND GARDEN

BY TONY SPENCER Through his award-winning blog The New Perennialist and social media flair, Tony Spencer has become a puckish ringleader for the naturalistic movement while pursuing planting design projects on the wild-ish side at his log cabin in Mono, Ontario.

At its roots , the New Perennial movement in naturalistic planting design is about making gardens in symbiosis with nature. It calls for a wilder aesthetic, attuned to ecology and informed by horticulture. Inspired by naturally occurring habitats, such plantings are designed landscapes composed of a series of interwoven plant layers, abstracting the patterns and rhythms found in nature. There are no rules, only

guidelines for the home gardener: reduce garden inputs, recycle garden outputs; design with biodiversity and maintenance in mind; group plants by common habitat; work with the conditions you’ve got; invite spontaneity; use plants as a living mulch to cover ground; come fall, leave plants to amend the soil with their own debris. Above all, experimentation is the key to learning.

A misty morning in the pond garden

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