Designs By Nature

Michigan Wildflowers
Vern Stephens
Designs By Nature, LLC
9874 Chadwick Road
Laingsburg, MI 48848
[email protected]
517.651-6502
517.230-2923 (cell)
Cultural Guide
prairiemoon.com
prairienursery.com
Why Native Grasses and Wildflowers?
Native grasses are important to many different ecosystems in Michigan
* Can adapt to poor quality soils because of their extensive root systems
* Are drought tolerant
* Out compete weeds, yet are not aggressive
* Require less maintenance
* With proper installation practices, establishment may be less than 2 years
Native grasses improve water quality
* Extensive root systems filter out nutrients and provide erosion control
* Require less fertilizers or pesticides that could impact water quality
* Tests show that the root systems do not interfere with agricultural tiles
Native grasses improve air quality
* Fix carbon from the air reducing global warming
* Less maintenance reduces carbon monoxide input from machinery
Native grasses provide wildlife benefits
* Grasses attract insects that are food sources for game and song birds
* Provide nesting and resting areas
* Provide escape cover from predators
* Serve as areas of thermal protection during winter
* Seed heads become food sources for many species of wildlife
* Grasses are high in nutrients as forage for grazers
Importance Of Native Plants
Native Plants
Insects
Critters
(Songbirds)
There Is A Critical Link Between All Three
Bringing Nature Home
Doug Tallamy
Shade Garden
Garden Design
Rain Garden
Site Preparation
Begins with Site Analysis
Soils (Type/pH)
Slope
Lighting
Moisture
Existing Vegetation (Invasives)
Remove Existing Vegetation
Burning
Cultivation
Herbicide Application
or a combination of any of the above
Most Important Step to Any Successful Planting
Establish A PlantingTimeline
April 7th Spray
(Fallow/Idle Field)
April 30th Spray
May 15th
Planting Date
Consider Fall Prior Prep
Any soil work-up needs to be only the top 2 inches
Shade and Water Gardens
Shade
and
Filtered
Light
Gardens
Butterfly
and
Specialty
Garden
Butterfly and Full Sun Gardens
Rain Garden Design
Installation
Seed –
Larger Areas or Budget Limitations
Takes Longer to Become Established
Plugs –
Quicker Flowering/Many Bloom Same Year
More Expensive
Used on Medium Size Projects
Quarts – Mature Plants/No Waiting for Results
More Expensive/Easy to Landscape With
Rule of Thumb for Spacing:
One wildflower/square foot
One grass/3 square feet
A prairie mix is 70% grasses and 30% wildflowers
Maintenance
Monitor for weed development periodically
Yearly remove litter by mowing, burning or weed whipping
Done in early spring before green-up
On larger plantings consider only removing 1/3 of the litter
each year
Burning
• Removes litter, set backs succession,
increases soil temperatures
• Spring and fall burns
• Firebreaks
• Attain permits
• Burn plan
goals, equipment, method
wind, humidity, temperatures
Safety!!!
Weed Competition
Hepatica
White Trillium
Purple Trillium
Bloodroot
Wild Ginger
Jack-In-The-Pulpit
Wild Geranium
Maidenhair Fern
Woodland Phlox
Christmas Fern
Lady Fern
Ostrich Plume Fern
Cinnamon Fern
Interrupted Fern
Wood Fern
Royal Fern
May Apple
New York Fern
Pennsylvania Sedge
Bottlebrush Grass
Virginia Creeper
Virginia Wild Rye
Thimbleweed
Bluebells and Tall Bellflower
Little Bluestem
Prairie Dropseed
Big Bluestem
June Grass
Indian Grass
Switch Grass
Fall Little Bluestem
Prickly Pear Cactus
Showy Goldenrod
Horsemint
Colombine
Rough Blazingstar
Butterfly Weed
Bergemot
Early Goldenrod
Black-Eyed Susan
Ironweed
Gray Headed Coneflower
Culver’s Root
Joe Pye Weed
Marsh Blazingstar
Wild Lupine
Round Leaf Ragwort
False Boneset
Sand Tickseed
False Dragonhead
Stiff Goldenrod
Wild Iris
Mountain Mint
White Turtlehead
Purple Coneflower
Compass Plant
Prairie Coreopsis
Cup Plant
Pale Purple Coneflower
Blue-Eyed Grass
Rattlesnake Master
Foxglove Beardtongue
Hoary Vervain
Dwarf Lake Iris
Harebell
Wild Petunia
Prairie Smoke
Thank You!
Questions?