DESIGNING THE PRAIRIE PLANTING
Location- deciding where to locate your prairie is important to the success of your planting. The site should be sunny with at least 6 hours of direct sunlight available. Identifying all species present would be recommended prior to cultivation. It should be assessed weather noxious or invasive exotic plants are present. If invasives exist, they should be removed from the sight prior to planting. In some instances it may take several applications of herbicide through a couple of growing seasons to remove the weeds. Several examples of noxious weeds are Chinese tallow, Cogon grass, Karatia japonica, and Chinese privet. Some species that are typically thought to be noxious are often removed over time by fire or through lack of disturbance. Examples of these are Vasey grass and Brazilian vervain, both are highly invasive plants. Other, less aggressive weedy species can be removed if they are bothersome to the individual property owner. Examples of these might be blackberries, yankee weed, and common goldenrod. But again, these plants will be suppressed by annual burning and in the case of yankee weed and common goldenrod, are eliminated in time.
Soil- The soil in your planting area can be of nearly any consistency as long as water percolates through it. If water is still in puddles 24 hours after a rain, you know you have a very poorly drained soil. If it stays for 48 hours you have a marsh! Don稚 plant a prairie in a marsh.
Layout- It is fairly important to locate your garden only one time! But even if you put it in the wrong spot, you can transplant clumps from the old to the new spot. It will save you some time doing it right the first time. It痴 fairly easy to locate a plot in a large open space in the country. Designing a space in a smaller lot requires more precise planning. Since a mixture of prairie plants looks unorganized and abstract, designing them into geometric forms can work well as a contrast. For instance, a circle of prairie in a yard surrounded by a band of lawn will showcase the planting. The lawn serves as a border and a path by which to view the plot from different points and as a visual line in the landscape. A patch made into a rectangle or square form works very well. A square foot prairie garden could be an interesting addition to a small sunny space. Designate an area of four feet square to be your tall grass prairie and you値l never cease to be amazed by the amount of species that grow happily in such a small spot. We hope you値l call us for an on-site consult. We can give custom design options to guide you through your project or just sit back and let us do the work!
PLANTING YOUR PRAIRIE
Planting your prairie is a relatively simple process. The first step is to locate a source for seed or plants. You値l see that the number of prairie plants you can represent in your planting is large. Over one hundred species are found in the Coastal Prairie. There is, however, a limited supply of plants grown from locally collected seed available in the in our region. Presently we are doing all of our work with seed collected in the prairies of Texas, but by the Fall of 2001 we plan to be using locally collected seed for use in plant production. Collecting seed on your own can be done throughout the year and sown in the fall.
It is essential to disturb the area by plowing or tilling previous to planting. This will destroy or set back existing plants in the area enough so that your sowed seed will make soil contact and have a chance to compete for sunlight. Be aware of the possibility of erosion. If the sight is sloped you may want to use an erosion prevention material. This will keep your seed and soil from washing away during heavy rains. If the surface is flat, simply rake over the seed after sowing. This will help some seed become covered or partially covered by soil, hopefully resulting in good germination. It is recommended to sow most grasses and non-grasses together in the Fall here in the Coastal Plain since mild temperatures and regular rains make for good seed germination
MAINTAINING YOUR PRAIRIE
The maintenance of your prairie requires little time. The years of patience it takes to watch the prairie develop and establish itself is the hardest work you値l do. Understanding the initial look of your planting is crucial to it痴 success. The first year, the patch may look a bit weedy. Over the years, this will change, and the integrity of the planting will become more obvious and less weedy-looking. Yearly maintenance amounts to burning or at least mowing in January or February. Burning is recommended because the plants are accustomed to it and it removes the previous season痴 growth, exposing more seed to light. Mowing can be used if you are restricted by city ordinances. Fertilizer is not recommended but can be used as a means to speed up the growing process. This is also true with watering.
Meadow Maker fields after winter burn
THE FIRST YEAR PLANTING
If sowed in the fall, your patch should reveal seedlings in the late Winter or early Spring. It helps if you can identify seedlings or to have someone point them out to you as they sprout so you can become aware of the plants in their smallest forms. You will probably learn to identify them in time, regardless. Patience is the key to understanding your wildflower patch. By practicing patience, you will find laid out before you a world of god痴 gifts for your personal enjoyment. For the first few years, a transition is what you値l see. There will be many plants show up the first year that weren稚 there previously and weren稚 in the seed sowed. Chances are they are the same plants that you weed out of your garden yearly. But don稚 worry already! Leave them alone. These are typically annual plants that occur when soil is disturbed and will slowly decline in time. There should also be at least several annual species represented in the original seed mix to prevent erosion in the early years and as a splash of color while waiting for the slower plants to become established. Examples of annual species are plains coreopsis, goat weed, partrige pea, and Quaking grass. Some of these annual flowers will also serve as a nectar source or as a host plant for butterflies in the initial stages of the planting.
Lupine seedling at 6 months |
Lupine seedling at 18 months |
SECOND YEAR PLANTING
The winter after the first growing season, should reveal the skeletal remains of plants that grew in your prairie patch. Seed produced by the annuals and a few perennials during the first growing season will fall to the ground and a good portion should make contact with the ground痴 surface, possibly germinating. It is unlikely that you will have enough fuel in your planting to burn at this time. For aesthetic purposes, it might be prudent to mow in order to remove the mass of vegetation from the previous growing season. The mown plant material will also fall to the ground, covering some exposed seed and soil. During the growing season, there should be a good show of annuals and a few more perennial species evident. By the Fall, one should be on the look for the few grasses that have matured to the point of producing flower stalks. It is possible to very lightly scratch to soil surface in some areas, introducing more seed if seed availability was a problem when initial seeding was done. Letting a roto-tiller walk across the surface of the soil will barely break the surface as it goes, causing an ever-so-slight disturbance. Along with the previous season痴 tillage this is usually sufficient for seed to make contact with the soil.
THIRD YEAR PLANTING
It is probable that at this point a fire could be attempted. Two seasons of plant growth should produce enough fuel for a significant burn. By this time, some of the annual species have been reduced in number and other perennial plants have taken their place. Plants like Monardas, Mountain mints, Helianthus mollis, and flat topped goldenrod colonize and become large masses in the landscape. Soon other plants eventually emerge from these colonies, their seed having found a niche in which to grow. Grasses such as Switch grass, Big Bluestem and Indian grass have large running root systems that eventually fill large swaths in the landscape. Some seed from the initial dispersal have only now begun to grow. Your prairie patch is now reseeding itself each year, filling in the remaining patches of exposed soil with new generations of seed.