December 29, 2009

Growing Green
with Extension Educator Robin Trott

Native Prairie Plantings

Douglas county sits just on the eastern edge of what once was a vast prairie; 18 million acres that stretched across the state from southeast to northwest. Early settlers crossing this part of the state encountered a sea of grass and unbroken soil stretching as far as the eye could see. However, fertile prairie land was ideal for growing crops, and much of the prairie fell under the plow. The remaining remnants of this wide grassland exist in areas the plow couldn’t reach.

Today, many landscape architects, university horticultural departments and plant growers are promoting a return to the native plants that were found in our prairies. By selecting plants native to your particular area, you will have a garden that takes less care and energy and will be healthier than non-native gardens. Native plants provide ideal habitat for the birds, insects and wildlife found in your area. Prairie plants also have deep root systems, some as deep as 9 feet, which strengthen the soil against erosion. The drawback to native prairie plantings is that they take a little longer to establish than more common annual and perennial beds. Once established, the deep root systems make it almost impossible to move plants, so careful garden planning is essential.

If you would like to learn more about the native prairie plants available in our area, come to the “Native Prairie Plantings” workshop on January 26. Gene and Jeremiah Stark, who own and operate Glacial Ridge Growers in Glenwood, will be presenting an hour long workshop focusing on the types of plants you can select for your prairie garden. Their motto “Restoring the Prairie One Backyard at a Time,” comes with 32 years greenhouse and growing experience. Their wholesale/retail facility “nurtures the natives and produces the same handsome and hardy cultivars that have inhabited the prairies for centuries.” Glacial Ridge Growers are actively working “to bring back and restore the genetics of the past to ensure the beauty and diversity of the future.”

Join us on January 26 at 7:00 P.M. at The Douglas County Public Works Meeting Room. Cost for the workshop is $5.00/person. For more information, please contact me at the Douglas County Extension Office at (320) 762-3890. Until next time: happy garden dreams!

We clasp the hands of those that go before us, and the hands of those who come after us. We enter the little circle of each other’s arms, and the larger circle of lovers whose hands are joined in a dance, and the larger circle of all creatures passing in and out of life, who move also in a dance, to a music so subtle and vast that no ear hears it except in fragments.

– Wendell Berry