“The prairie provides good winter cover for wildlife as the grasses stand up even under snow. Tallgrass provides excellent nesting, brood rearing, loafing, escape and roosting cover, especially for songbirds and game birds. Rabbit, dove, bobwhite quail, wild turkey, pheasant and numerous songbirds find native warm-season grasses suitable nesting cover. Native grasses concentrate insects, an important food source for birds and other wildlife.” Missouri Conservation Commission, 1993

Knowing the value of Tallgrass Prairie, Savannah (sandy sites) and Meadow (transitional) environments may have you wondering if you must have a large space for it to even be feasible for you. 

Yes, you care about the songbirds, and yes you care about the bees and butterflies and bobolinks, but you only have so much space.  

Considering that, when Europeans first arrived, there were an estimated 1 million square kilometres of tallgrass prairie in North America, we can’t make up that space in our backyard. Where did those kilometres go?

These early explorers found that the soils under the prairie grasses were incredibly rich so they were quickly converted to agricultural land. It is estimated that Ontario may have had more than a thousand square kilometres of tallgrass prairie and related communities. Not so much today. 

Why? 

A prairie is a very specific, long-lived, grassland ecosystem. Native grasses foster an environment that historically spreads fire. When the prairie was burned, it would grow back as the roots of grasses remain protected below ground. This eliminated any non prairie plants allowing the prairie to survive. When settlers started to plow up the ground for agricultural use this destroyed the root system of the prairie plants and allowed quick growing meadow plants to move in. These plants start the slow steady march of forest reclaiming the land so that the prairie completely disappears. 

This helps us to see an important factor in Tallgrass Prairie restoration. DON’T disturb the roots!

What about the fire part?

Understandably, in a subdivision, you will totally freak out your neighbours if you set fire to your backyard. I would not suggest it. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t plant anything. 

Prairies are blooming with beautiful wildflowers from May to frost, putting on the best show in July and August. Some of the flowers you will find are wild lupine (blue), gray-headed coneflower (yellow), prairie smoke (burgundy), wild bergamot (purple/pink), butterfly milkweed (orange), blazing stars (purple), asters (white, pink, blue, purple), mints (white, pink, purple), goldenrods (yellow) and sunflowers. Some sunflowers can grow over 2 metres tall. Orchids can even be found in sites with richer soil. If you are looking to plant a shade tree honey locust or black oak are excellent choices. On a smaller scale you might prefer low shadbush (serviceberry), New Jersey tea, sand cherry or fragrant sumac. And if you must have roses then you have the prairie rose available to you. 

Any of these options can be planted right in your ornamental garden without having to designate a different space for them to start with. 

But, if you want them to benefit wildlife the most, massing prairie plants together, all in one place, is best. 

Let’s look at some options:

First, assess your goals for this project.

• Are you restoring a natural plant community that at one time already existed on this planting site?

• Are you trying to connect a site on your property to pre-existing natural remnants nearby?

• Do you want to create a showy wildflower display?

  • Provide quality habitat for local wildlife?

  • Create a low-maintenance landscape?

  • Stabilize an erosion-prone area? 

  • Provide an educational opportunity for schools or the surrounding community?

  • Conduct your own ecological research?

My main goals for this site are

1. To restore a natural plant community that could have at one time existed on this planting site before agriculture took over.

2. Provide quality habitat for local wildlife. 

3. Create a low maintenance landscape that doesn’t require constant watering, fertilizing and mowing. 

Many animal species require large expanses of prairie, and loss of habitat has contributed to their decline. Both Henslow’s sparrow and northern bobwhite are currently considered endangered, and the greater prairie chicken has not been seen in Ontario for decades. More than 150 plant species occurring in Ontario prairie are considered provincially or nationally rare – for example, the prairie white-fringed orchid. The beautiful Karner blue butterfly, whose larvae depend on wild lupine for food, has not been seen in Ontario for almost a decade. 

Because we rent, and my site is up against a wooden fence, I don’t have the ability to just burn stuff, so the controlled burns that some believe are essential to creating a true prairie environment are not available to me. There are options when fires can’t be set. Some will weed-whack the area every 3-5 years and burn the clippings in a barrel and then spread the ash back over the soil to provide nutrients and concentrate the sun’s heat on the ground. This heat enables the germination of new seed and the openness created allows for more precipitation to get into the soil. 

Next determine your intention.

Will this be a meadow or a prairie or something in between?

Prairies are most often 50/50 wildflowers and grasses, whereas Meadows are more like 70/30 wildflowers and grasses. This will help you decide your ratios. I’ve decided to stay as close to proper prairie as possible. 

Have a clear picture of your core species - Prairies = Grasses.

Core species are the main plants that make up a particular ecosystem. The abundance that you have in your garden should mirror what would be found in a naturally occurring space. So if you have more than 50% wildflowers, you no longer have a prairie, you have a meadow.   

Know Your Non-Natives

On my site the pre-existing plants are standard lawn grass, queen anne’s lace, varieties of goldenrod and some asters, burdock and thistle. Were I to remove the sod and leave open ground this would be immediately colonized by the invasive weeds I am trying to prevent. I love mullein, don’t get me wrong, it’s the main reason my bronchitis hasn’t become chronic but it doesn’t belong in an Ontario Tallgrass Prairie. It’s from Europe. 

Have a Plan

Instead of removing the sod I’m going to take a different approach. I’m going to leave it right where it is.

Then I’ll smother or handpull as many of the weeds as possible. Anywhere that I pull or dig up I will replant immediately with native species plugs. 

I’m going to start the seeds in flats and plant out plugs instead of scattering seed and hoping it catches. This way the plant is up and producing and has a better chance to fight against the weeds and grass that already are on site. 

I have 250 seeds each of my core species of grasses - Big Bluestem, Indian Grass, Switch Grass and Little Bluestem (from Hawthorn). As these are clump-forming they like to be sown in 3s or 5s to get started. That means 50-80 plugs of each grass type.  

Based on height I will mass the taller 3 varieties of grasses at the back along the fence creating a dense habitat for wildlife. I’ll plant the plugs right into the grass that’s already there knowing they will grow much taller and outcompete the lawn grass. 

Closer to the border with the lawn pathway that will be mown through the space for access I’ll plant lower growing grass, like Little Bluestem, and more of the wildflowers so that they are most visible up against the backdrop of tall grass. 

Fill in the Flowers

Along with the grasses I also bought Ironweed (vernonia missurica) from Hawthorn. Even though it can handle quite wet ground it also does fine in average soil. At 6 feet plus it will put on a beautiful summer show of purple blooms.

Boneset, one of the varieties I got in the seed swap, requires a reasonable amount of moisture, so it won’t work in my drought tolerant prairie. I’m going to plant it near one of the downspouts where it will hopefully get enough moisture to be happy. 

The Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is technically a naturalized flower, not native. It came from the States south of Ontario and is one of those flowers that has been assisted in its migration (human-assisted movement of plants or animals to more climatically suitable habitats). It’s also the one most typically sold at nurseries. The Pale Purple Coneflower (Echinacea pallida) is our native coneflower and the one that would be biologically suited to my prairie restoration. It’s a bit taller than purpurea and has narrower and paler petals. So the Echinacea purpurea will go in a different part of my garden where it still has benefits for pollinators and birds in fall who eat the seeds. 

I’m hoping the Rudbeckia is hirta which would make it the Black-eyed Suzan and perfect for my restoration project. If it isn't, I'll simply move it to another area of the garden. 

I already have Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) and Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) that I can divide and add to the front to provide beautiful flowers. 

Last on my list to fill in the holes with flowers:

• Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Package of 80 seeds from Return of the Native $3.50

• Grey-headed Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata )

Package of 70 seeds from Return of the Native $3.50

• Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum)

Package of 30 seeds from Return of the Native $3.50

• Virginia Rose (Rosa virginiana)

Package of 25 seeds from Return of the Native $3.50

• Dense Blazing Star (Liatris spicata)

$3.95 from Hidden Habitat

• Smooth Blue Aster (Symphyotrichum laeve)

$3.95 from Hidden Habitat

• Lance-leaved Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata)

$3.95 from Hidden Habitat

• Stiff Goldenrod (Solidago rigida)

$3.95 from Hidden Habitat

This Friday 5 will be focused on Prairie possibilities.