Native Prairie Garden

I would say you are highly successful - that's a tremendous amount of abuse to still have a garden look that good!

I agree, it looks really nice to me! If you want a durable groundcover, try vinca vine, it's evergreen, variegated, and tough. It's also cheap, you can buy it in 99 cent cups at HD. It may or may not thrive there. Creeping wire vine is even smaller, and very drought tolerant, but is not evergreen. Both can stand some light traffic. I would plant el cheapo plants with them, whatever's on sale that grabs your eye. Pentas and lantana are very drought tolerant annuals.

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/58078/index.html

Go Native, thank you and yes those are Aspens with a severe pruning, they are tough though and seem to handle it well...

Our native prairie...liatris native to FL

are those yucca trees? You always have the coolest pics.

PGirl, nope, they are a native palm, Serenoa repens 'Cinerea' .

Coreopsis tinctoria...another prairie flower.

I knew they weren't yucca trees! LOL

They do look vaguely like yucca, especially to someone who lives on the turndra :-)

N TX prairie....

Thanks for all the compliments everyone. I've enjoyed the little roadside garden detour we made on your thread of prairie gardens, sorry for the hijack I started GoNative. It does look like there is enough interest for a new thread on that topic. Toofew are you interested in starting one? Or should we continue on this thread? I'm sure there are lots of possibilities for your garden and we all share some of the same problems.
I definitely have plenty of thoughts on the subject.
Lovely gardens Quill and dale.

Isn't it amazing that some folks have nothing better to do but worry about what you have growing in front of YOUR house? Thank you all for the beautifull pictures and inspiration! Obviously there is a tremendous amount of maint. being done in all of them, they look pristine. I would like to remind anyone considering doing a roadside prairie planting to remember that this type of gardening is far from maint. free and the key to getting more people to accept the natural style in front is keeping them well maintained. Also one other consideration is visibility. I am a landscaper and most of my work is commercial so I do quite a few plantings near entrances where clients want to attract attention to their property. Be carefull where you place taller plants, they can block the vision of drivers and create a hazard. Make sure that drivers have a clear line of vision when pulling out of driveways, both yours and your neighbors. If there are any traffic signs nearby keep an eye on your taller plants to ensure they are not blocking the view of the traffic signs. This can be an issue with tree branches near the road also. Remember to keep safety a top priority in your planting and it will go far with helping you deal with any complaints when you can point out that you have planned your garden with this in mind. I live in the country personally, I can plant whatever I want wherever I want, but I am still carefull to keep safety a top concern. That beautifull shrub at the end of the driveway won't look so beatifull when you have an accident because you couldn't see oncomming traffic and you could find yourself in some legal trouble. Keep it natural, keep it beautifull, and keep it safe and hopefully we can win the rest of the world over to the benefits of natural planting.

spot,
Thanks for the comments and suggestions from a landscapers point of view and experience. I agree all the gardens shown are very carefully maintained and probably high maintenance.I know mine is, especially since I try for a 4 season garden. Everything has to look good or be hidden or trimmed. In the winter I have used Christmas tree boughs carefully arranged around plants to give a evergreen look besides road salt and mounding snow protection. Quill your garden is very lovely with a wide variety of texture and color beautifully planned out. Dale your garden has the natural carefree spirit and is charming.

Twofew,
I have a couple of suggestions for your garden. You mention neighbors using a large rock and landscape stones. What if you used that concept but made a gravel garden instead. A suggestion I found in a gardening magazine was to dig out the soil and have the garden below the curb level. This way, the crowns of plants are protected from scraping in winter. A pretty pea gravel will stay in place between the curbstone and pavement and protect roots and bulbs in the winter, which is probably the most damaging time. Cover the whole garden with a layered arrangement of evergreen boughs after the ground freezes. Not only will this cushion your garden from the random drive over, the extra layer will trap some of the road salt and you can remove the boughs and trapped salt in the spring. Think of it as a ground wreath and it can actually look nice before the snows. You could use a central nice sized vertical rock to mark the space in the winter and prevent some of the bike run throughs. The rock can add a beautiful design element for your plants to play off. I see you do use some nice sized rocks already in the garden, you can expand their use and/or use them as an edging following the whole perimeter of the garden. I use the rocks around the perimeter because I have a raised garden, I did the opposite and raised the garden adding soil. I don't have a height limitation except for fencing. No fencing in front of the house can be more then 2 ft, but if I create a small berm it's the soil line not the curb line that counts. Now for fencing, you can use inexpensive metal edgers that lock together, or you can use 4' rebar at the corners and attach whatever fencing you like. have used twig fencing from shrub prunnings and small bamboo pieces tied with black waxed twine in a X pattern shown in the first photo of the spring garden.
As for plants check what grows in seaside conditions, they are salt tolerant. Phlox subulata (moss-pink) is the semi-evergreen lavender flowering ground cover I use in the roadside garden. This is a native plant that is easily available, hardy to zone three , fills in nicely, can be blue(lavender) pink or white flowered. Bulbs can grow nicely though the pine needlelike leaves. I love to use Penstemon digitalis (beardtongue) cultivar Husker Red next to the black eyed susans. Those are the white ,snapdragon like flowers, in the second photo. Not only do they bloom beautifully in the spring, the stems and leaves veins are red and the new seed pods are deep red .

semper - thanks for the indepth ideas. I have thought about using 'sea thrift' as one of those 'salt tolerant' plants you are talking about. I do have it growing elsewhere in one of my gardens. I also have P. Husker Red in one of my other gardens also, but it does get quite tall there ... I think I'd rather not have it at the curb just in case it decided to get tall there as well. But I do have a couple other Penstemon seeds that I've received in the past and have not grown them because I wasn't sure what to do with them ... maybe the curb would be just the place to give them a try. :o) I love the 'husker Red' too, love to watch the bees disappear into the flowers.

Wow, the Phlox subulata is just what I was looking for! A perfect fit for the roadside garden!

I'm not too excited about pea gravel, there is no such thing as 'pretty pea gravel' in my book. But that is an interesting idea about it saving the roots of the perinneals. Usually the garden is scraped only about 6 inches in from the curb, so most, if not all of my perinneals escape the 'scraping'. I've tried to put the rocks along the edge, but they just end up getting pushed into the middle. But if I use your thought, and dig out an area along the edge of the curb and place the rocks deep there, so the top is just above ground level ... maybe that would look so much nicer. I would love to get the Phlox subulata to grow over those 'edging rocks'.

sharon

toofew,
I'm so glad you are able to adjust my suggestions and find answers that work for you.

Hi there, I am English living in Spain. I saw a programme about prairie plants and want to find out more. I think they would work well in our med climate, but I don't know where to find out about the various plants , heights etc. I'm wanting tall plants and grasses and also some smaller ones. I had a quick look on Amazon and search engine but can't seem to find individual named plants and descriptions. Anybody know the best place to get information and pics.
Sunny in Spain today and olive trees all pruned.

Gonative.. I LOVE YOUR WORK!~! I love the plantings and it's amazing that I was thinking exactly what you later wrote after I saw the for sale sign... that it would get ripped out if someone "normal" moved in. Glad to see someone artsy moved in and will take it over. In my area, the trend is to bulldoze the original homes and put up huge over sized mansions in their place on our large lot sizes right outside of Atlanta. I have 1 acre we purchased from my in-laws where my husband grew up. When they tear down the homes, it includes wiping out old timey gardens with old camellias and roses and it is so sad to see.

We are most certainly one of the few in the area with a nice yard that don't have a yard service and I too have had some well meaning comments like.. "have you been sick"? In response to my letting the garden go 'natural' over winter.. ......uhhhh nooooo ... I don't enjoy getting outside and working in the cold, freezing my tail off so you can have a clean pristine look like the manicured scapes at the subdivision entrances.

I am so glad I do not have covenants and I fall under the rules of the county. While this allows builders to buy and let properties rot till they get good and ready to tear down and build, (It's okay.. I take the leaf blower to every single one of them and clean them up to my satisfaction) it allows me to do whatever I want including a veggie garden in the front yard where the sun is better and I can put out as much yard art as my pocketbook will stand. My flamingos are my rebel yell gardener stance that I love to garden, like to laugh and have fun and I don't care if I don't fit into the mold..... And if you steal them again, I'll buy more again.

Your court stories remind me of a former DG member butterflybyrobyn. She is on Ebay still http://myworld.ebay.com/butterflybyrobyn/ She posted in the Texas forum about how her homeowners association was putting the heat on her to clean up her natural front yard, which was absolutely magnificent to me. She showed pictures in comparison of severely neglected homes in the same HOA, but they had it out for her. She then got in trouble casue they found out she had a "business" out of her home selling plants on Ebay and tried to shut that down while the HOA members conducted their business at home. I don't know how it ever got resolved, but her threads were taken off of DG.. I'm sure it was very supportive for her to come here and get the kind words she needed, but I guess it was too leagally controversial for the admin. She ended up selling her home and moving. She had to pay for lawyers to defend her and she was in danger of having her home taken by the HOA for failure to comply and facing crazy daily fines. I'm sure it was a nightmare for her and I've never forgotten her and hope she is well now.. I would never ever in my life own a home under a HOA after hearing her story.

My house is the first on the left and the driveway people use pull into to turn around in.. makes me crazy, but some run over the corner garden bed and I've been tempted to install sharp metal spikes to dissuade them, but that's only an evil fun thought and it hasn't come to pass....yet I could of course put some larger rocks there, which is probably where I should start. I also want to put up a sign saying "Driveway Turnarounds $2"

Lynda, My mother was from Madrid and I lived in Zaragosa for 4 years as a child.. I could see La Basílica del Pilar (A gorgeous cathedral) across the Rio Ebro (river) from where I lived. My sister was baptized there. I speak Spanish very well, but sound like an American when I speak it :) I would love to take my children over there but the dollar is so weak it would be a $$$ trip!

:)


Susan

..."My flamingos are my rebel yell gardener stance that I love to garden, like to laugh and have fun and I don't care if I don't fit into the mold... And if you steal them again, I'll buy more again...."

That's the spirit - you go, girl!!! I love it.

I love this thread. Gorgeous Garden Photos, everyone!

Lyndaadling,
Hello in sunny Spain, wish I was there, we had heavy rain followed by high winds and freezing weather right after I pulled the evergreen boughs off the parkway garden. Hopefully all the Rip van winkle daffodils in full bud hidden among the protective coverings will still bloom this year.
I can certainly give you a list of what I plant, and I'm sure others can add plants. But ,I see you are in Zone 9 which would put you in the same zone as parts of Texas and Calif., so some of my list would not work for you.
I would suggest you do an internet search of Texas Prairie Plant List, I did a quick google search and there are a number of sites with lists. If you can't find any let me know and I'll find some web addresses for you.
I started by researching grasses, this is important because some grasses out of there own habitats can be invasive or aggressive. "The Color Encycopedia of Ornamental Grasses" by Rick Darke is a good reference book.
The whole designing with grasses and prairie plants was made popular by European designers like Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsberry "Designing with Plants", Timber Press (lists of plants and beautiful photos in this book). "Gardening with Nature" James Van Sweden and Wolfgang Oehme , Random House, has lists and layouts plus photos.
Plants that would work in zone 9
Liatris pycnostachya -gayfeather
Ratibida -prairie coneflower
Rudbeckia hirta - black-eyed susan 2' -3'
Salvia azura and coccinea- azure and scarlet sage 3' -5',15"-21/2'
Coreopsis verticillata - threadleaf coreopsis 18"-24'
Grasses
Muhlenbergia capillaris- pink muhly -pink flowering can be 4'
Panium virgatum - switch grass - depending on the cultivar 4'-9' I grow "Heavy Metal" blue-leaved
I must caution you again to research the invasiveness of the plants as they are not native to Spain.

It's great to see that this thread is still going - thank you so much soulgarden, pagancat, wrightie & sempervirens for all the compliments.

I haven't been on DG for quite some time but here's an updated photo of my own personal garden from last July 2007. The ones I'd posted before were from 2006. Since then it's really filled in.

As for the above garden (former client) it's still there - drove by it last fall and nothing has been pulled out so that's good news.

Hi GoNative,
Nice to see you back.
Your front garden is beautiful.
The pathway is perfect, the curve makes me want to walk in among the flowers right up to your front steps and just sit down for awhile.

That is indeed good news that the native prairie garden you designed is still in existence.

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Nice!! :)

GoNative.... wow, can't believe I didnt see this thread until now.

that is what i'm trying to accomplish... all native plants.

in the front yard of that home for sale ... is there Cup Plant in the photo? I also saw it in your yard too. Very tall and yellow flowers??

I also saw you mention Prairie Cord Grass.... i was given a ton of seeds from a gal up in Long Grove... i've never done anything with them yet... maybe i'll give it a try this year.

Dear tcs,

Yeah, the house was for sale - in Chicago. Fortunately, the agent marketed the garden as an asset to the house and some nice art types bought it. The garden's still there. My client lives in a condo now but last summer I potted up some of the native nodding onions from the old house and they did real well in some decorative pots I put together for her on her back porch.

The second house is my place - the tall yellow flowers next to the porch are cup plant. That plant I probably will move because it can form a massive clump and bully some of the other more delicate plants. It's also too close the porch for my liking.

You're in Itasca right? I have lots of cup plant you could just have and some other native things too that need caring homes. You're not too far. I go to Elmhurst quite a bit to see several folks every couple of weeks perhaps we could meet.

I think I know who you mean in Long Grove - she was coordinating a plant swap last year in Schaumburg but I couldn't make it. I have cord grass too in the back - I could always dig you some of that as well and you could plant with your seed.

BTW - there's another house for sale in Oak Park complete with established native rain garden. They're still looking for a buyer. I have no idea of the price or listing agent though since the village does not allow for sale signs.

Last year i tried to WS Cup Plant, and it just didnt take.

>>I go to Elmhurst quite a bit to see several folks every couple of weeks perhaps we could meet.

that would be awesome.

>>since the village does not allow for sale signs.

wow -- that's a bummer... probably harder to sell a home that way.

Terese

GoNative your front garden is beautiful. My front is all garden too and looks nice during the gardening season. I have to admit that it does not look too great during the winter or this time of the year before things start to grow. Overall I think my neighbors enjoy it and I get lots of thank-you's from them and the folks that walk by. My little 4 year old neighbor girl did make a comment to me once that her Mom thought it look kind of messy in the winter. Do you have any photos of your garden in the winter when there is no snow cover or any ideas on how to make it look better? I just had a new family move in next door and they made the comment that they thought my "rock" garden was very interesting. Sort of funny because that is what it looks like right now. I told them to just wait a few weeks and it would look very different.

sempervirens, I love your parkway garden too. More and more people here in my neighborhood seem to be using their strips for flowers.


Susan


This message was edited Apr 3, 2008 7:04 AM

It's sad that people don't understand the concept of seasons and that all things have seasons. Even in the grocery store... people think all fruits and veggies grow all the time and should be available all the time. It's conditioning. Everyone is so accustomed to the highly manicured winter subdivision entrance gardens that are full of winter annuals, that the thought of anything dormant or barren or "dead looking" just doesn't look right to them. Like my neighbor asking if I'd been sick over the winter...cause my garden didn't look picture perfect..

Our county had the Master Gardeners garden on county property. One of the brilliant guys at the county level decided he didn't like the look of the garden in the winter time and informed the Master Gardeners that they would remove all plants that didn't stay green all year

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! huh!!????????????

So... the Master Gardeners literally pulled up everything in the garden and MOVED locations to a site donated by a gardener never to be told what they could and could not grow by someone who didn't know a thing or have a clue.

I still have rescued plants from that move... I'm glad to have them, but It was really sad to see that beautiful garden dismantled like that. For that reason, I'm extremely hesitant to volunteer my efforts to a public place where ignorance could wipe out my work.

Susan

I was once asked if I was "growing a dirt garden."

HA HA HA!! :) Tell them to wait till summer and see how good you make your dirt look :)

=) This man was so flip & judgmental in his tone that I replied to him in a straight face with a simple "Yes."

:)! like it.. passive aggressive!

First I need to say that front garden is breathtaking! Just so beautiful. My front is all in florals too.

Interesting about the Master Gardeners. I stayed in our local club for 2 years and finally quit for similar reasons! ; ) I had wanted to promote water saving and more natives. I can't believe how many people want a green lawn here in the desert and they can't go with a low water use one, they want one to water year around! What a waste of our precious water it seems to me. I want to enjoy all 4 seasons in my yard!

Especially where you are- sheesh. People...

I just posted a couple of pictures a couple of weeks ago in response to a thread on the Design Forum over on GW - there was an individual that was committed to going strictly native plants - to attract wildlife and reduce watering.

Of course all the naysayers and experts were coming out of the woodwork saying it couldn't be done and still look attractive. A little discouraging that so many people were against the idea.

My place is about 75% native IL species, about 5% cultivars (one of the two Baptisia is a cultivar and a good sized clump of Magnus Purple Coneflower) and the remaining balance are tough hardy non-invasive and water wise old standbys like Peonies, Iris, Daylily, Pink Mallow, Breadseed Poppies, Cosmos, Echinops and few roses and a fancy clematis called Ramona !!!!

I think it's fine to mix in some things for earlier and extra color. It's a matter of choosing plants that aren't going to demand more then minimal watering (or none) once established and aren't going to pose a threat as an invasive to the local habitat.

Believe it or not, I did not water the garden even once last year - only the pot in the middle got water and it was pretty dry last year.

Cactuspatch,

I think it would be totally cool to do a xeric garden. I've see pictures of the desert in bloom (and not in bloom) and like youI can't believe folks would rather have an entire green lawn instead of incorporating some of those wonderful desert natives. Sometimes, I wish I could move to the desert to try out a whole new set of native plants.

Wow! I can't imagine getting enough rain to never water. I don't have an all native yard. But I do keep my roses and other plants in a smaller area of the yard so as to conserve water. I could have a huge lush yard if i did not care about the water I was using.

I totally understand your comment about people not believing it could look ok. I get that same thing here. Since the city has water restrictions, and those who never did native or xeric had their stuff die with only once a week watering. Many have gone to gravel yards. Many of them look very nice and have some palm trees and cactus incorporated. I can see that for retirees who want to play golf all day and others not interested in gardens it is a fine thing. But I am constantly being told that this or that won't grow here and no sense in trying. I am a native myself, so I have grown roses here and my Grandmas did since the early 1900's but I think that people feel that if they convince themselves that no one can, it makes them feel better. I get tons of drivebys who turn around to come back to see my roses since my neighbors all have gravel. ; )

I had the most beautiful roses when I lived in Tunisia. Right on the northern edge of the Sahara desert. The roses were taller than me and I needed to stand on a step stool to pick them. Most of the garden was desert plants, the roses were watered using gray water. The water came from washing water, sink shower, laundry. You can have your cake and eat it to as long as your appetite isn't to large.

Exactly! My Grandmothers used the water from washing dishes and laundry. Of course that was outlawed until just recently. It was so silly that people had done it for centuries until someone decided it was a health hazard. I need to have my home re-plumbed to be able to take advantage of it. But in my previous home we routed the washer drain to my roses and they were beautiful. I drain my tub onto the small amount of grass I do have.

this taken yesterday of my native plant butterfly garden....it changes monthly all the way into late fall
yarrow, coreopsis,coral honeysuckle,vitex,purple poppy mallow, pink ladies, taken from the wildflower meadows on our property and brought into cultivated areas around the house

Lovely Jackie, and easy care I imagine?

except for the bermuda and crabgrasses that I have incorporated into it by digging the natives from the grassy meadows....I feel so blessed to live in an area with many native grasses and flowers, I have 100s of pictures over the last 4 years taken thru the seasons....just can't seem to stop, I love it so...I recently discovered a whole new area of fiber optic grass. It's beautiful, a little difficult to photo correctly but I am hoping to be able to trade some to intrested parties for something I don't have

We have a lovely little native grass that comes up between my flagstones. I was trying to pull it before it went to seed, but the birds love the seeds so I let it go. Does fiber optic mean is will glow in the dark?