3 Hortons Mill Road
The garden is planned as a pollinator meadow structured around three native grasses. Prairie dropseed edges the garden on two sides, and purple lovegrass fills in the back of the plot by the entrance to the house. A diagonal drift of little bluestem forms the backbone of the garden.
Blooming season begins in April with violets and pussytoesappearing along the front edges of the garden. After they are finished the taller plants kick in, and there is something flowering all season through the end of October. In the winter, the dry stems of little bluestem and prairie dropseed remain upright and attractive, as do the seed heads of some of the perennials. Allowing the dead stalks to remain not only provides visual interest in the winter, but also overwintering habitat for native bees and other insects.
A wildflower garden is not static; it changes over time. You can expect your garden to look different from one year to the next. In the early years, plants that are fast-growing and short-lived will bloom big. In your garden those will include wild petunia and coreopsis. In later years, slower-growing, deep-rooted, long-lived plants will come into their own. For you those include the prairie species Echinacea pallida and the majestic Baptisia australis, which may not make any blooms at all until year four. The short-lived perennials may reseed themselves and pop up in new places, but over time will be gradually crowded out by the long-lived ones. This is natural and part of the normal process of succession in a meadow planting.
Plant List
Botanical name
Common name
Number of plants
Agastache foeniculum
Anise hyssop
3
Amsonia hubrichtii
Hubricht’s bluestar
2
Anaphalis margaritacea
Pearly everlasting
5
Antennaria plantaginifolia
Pussytoes
5
Asclepias tuberosa
Butterfly milkweed
3
Baptisia australis
Blue false Indigo
2
Coreopsis lanceolata
Lance-leaved coreopsis
3
Echinacea pallida
Pale purple coneflower
1
Eragrostis spectabilis
Purple lovegrass
7
Monarda fistulosa
Wild bergamot
4
Penstemon digitalis
Smooth white beardtongue
5
Rudbeckia fulgida
Orange coneflower
4
Ruellia humilis
Wild petunia
7
Schizachyrium scoparium
Little bluestem
6
Sisyrinchium albidum
Blue-eyed grass
3
Solidago odora
Sweet goldenrod
2
Solidago speciosa
Showy goldenrod
3
Sporobolus heterolepis
Prairie dropseed
17
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum
Calico aster
1
Symphyotrichum novo-angliae
New England aster
1
Symphyotrichum oblongifolium
Aromatic aster
1
Tradescantia ohiensis
OH spiderwort
2
Viola sororia
Common blue violet
14