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