Our Cumberland Road native prairie is a simple, low maintenance and pedestrian acceptable plan. Here’s some details, photos, and knowledge.
This prairie is a sizable 1,080 square feet, a respectable size for a suburban landscape. It has a mowable 18” grass border gracing the sidewalk, defined by vinyl edging. This shows pedestrians and pets that it’s not . A mowed border also keeps the plants off the sidewalk.
To start, we killed the grass by smothering it in plastic for nearly a full year. This method works well in long straight stretches, doesn’t use herbicides, and rots weeds seeds that hide in the turf grass. However, it kills beneficial bacteria in the soil, provides a good home for small rodents and snakes, and of course, there’s all the plastic garbage to remove. Nothing’s perfect when forcing your will upon the earth.
During 2024 we removed the plastic, raked up half of the dead turf grass/thatch, and spread seed in two sections. Taller plant seeds went along the fence. Shorter and showy native seeds went along the front.
On our next scheduled garden maintenance weeding visit we expected the native garden to be a green carpet. It was a brown carpet. The coir was too thick for the native seedlings to push through. We worked to free the seedlings that were trapped under the coir mat and found good germination. This was a lesson in overthinking. Straw would have done fine.
We seeded Yellow Coneflowers, Rudbeckia hirta for the impatient skeptics over the front 2/3 of the prairie. These yellow coneflowers are some of the few native forbs that bloom and add quick color during the first season in Minnesota. What a success! A little goes a long way.
Additionally, we seeded native prairie Monarda Bee Balm. Monarda is a popular source of nectar for butterflies and moths. Bee Balm Monarda is in the mint family and it gives off a dainty mint smell. This plant takes two seasons before blooming.
We were sure to include three Asclepias Milkweeds species for this garden. Milkweeds emerge during the first or second season with good blooms during the second and third. Milkweed are one of the best native plants to start from seed.
Milk weed is ubiquitous with Monarch butterflies in Minnesota prairie plantings. Seeded were Asclepias tuberosa, Butterfly weed, one of our top favorite native plants for Minnesota, Asclepias incarnata, Swamp Milkweed which should grow well in the lower damper corner, and Asclepias syriaca, Common Milkweed. We were sure to seed Common Milkweed in drifts in the middle-to-back of the garden due to their floppy growth. We love to see kids searching for a Monarch chrysalis but don’t want people banging into Milkweed while walking their dog.
