Plants can reach heights of 15 to 60 cm (6 to 24 inches), making them great to use in your borders. Eustoma flower in the summer with double bell shaped flowers of purple, pink, or cream, atop an upright stem. Why prairie planting is low maintenance. Tips For Choosing A Site For Your Wildflower Planting. Eustoma exaltatum - Catchfly Prairie Gentian by Marlin Harm; creative commons. Weed control must begin before planting. With the addition of ornamental grasses, you can enjoy an area inspired by the prairies. This sturdy plant helped launch fresh interest in prairie flowers and has been hybridized into a rainbow of new colors. Advantages. While plants become established, the common annual weeds in your area will undoubtedly share space in your garden or prairie planting. Using grasses in prairie planting. Planting a prairie-style border. Grasses, especially Miscanthus and Hakonechloa, feature prominently in Petra Pelz’s prairie garden, providing both the informal structure and the movement Petra loves.“They sway with the slightest of breezes,” she says, “giving an impression of lightness and playfulness. ; Seed Man's Planting Tip: A minimum of 6 hours of sunlight is necessary for wildflowers to grow. However, columbine, blazing star, aster, bergamot and mallow will grow in partial shade. Full sun is a must. Choose a sunny spot with 6+ hours of sun. Prairie planting is a great choice if you’re short on time and don’t want to be deadheading and weeding every other night. Most prairie flowers require full sun, at least six to eight hours of direct sunlight each day. Purchase a diverse mix of high quality, local origin seed. Get a true native variety, such as pale purple coneflower with drooping petals or a yellow Ozark coneflower, for long-lasting blooms and more drought tolerance. I tend to find the flowering interest also lasts longer. Spring planted flower seed should be Ideal in smaller areas This will allow young perennial wildflowers to establish without excessive heat, making for stronger and longer-lived plants, and annual wildflowers will bloom before intense heat arrives. The standard approach for establishing a prairie plot of any size is to plant seeds of various prairie grasses and wildflowers. The prairie smoke wildflower (Geum triflorum) is a plant of many uses.It works well in a garden setting or in a prairie or meadow-like environment. Your soil is probably already perfect for wildflowers! Spraying, smothering, tilling and hand weeding are ways to control competitive vegetation. This interpretation of prairie planting is closer to the traditional perennial border, which has always used prairie plants such as phlox, golden rod (Solidago), Monarda and asters. Prairie Dropseed Photo by Vision Pictures/Monrovia (Sporobolus heterolepis) Little prairie dropseed charms as a textural accent, but don't let that fool you—this grass is tough as nails. We suggest using seed, but potted or bare-root plants, available from most native plant nurseries, offer a viable way to establish wildflowers in small plantings, or to add interesting species into a seeding. The size and location of your planting project will determine which method is best. One exception is our Partial Shade Mixture, which only needs 4 hours of sun. 1. Tall and spectacular, award-winning Queen of the Prairie 'Venusta' (Filipendula Rubra) is a splendid herbaceous perennial with large, elegant sprays of small deep pink flowers borne on leafy stems well above the foliage from early to late summer. Fall planting is often used for this reason. When planting seeds in warmer climates with intense summertime heat, it's best to plant your wildflowers in early spring. Prairie smoke Planting Normal planting dates for Minnesota range from October 15 to freeze-up and May 15 to July 1. Planted in full sun, the tall, translucent flowers bloom from summer until fall, smelling faintly of … Many wildflower seeds need a period of cold, moist conditions before they germinate. As prairie borders are planted on mass a number of the plants should support themselves.