PRAIRIE INSTALLATION

Prairie meadows are becoming an increasingly popular alternative to traditional high maintenance landscapes. Our native prairie flowers and grasses are stunning both as individuals, and as a complete prairie plant community. Perhaps best of all, the prairie helps us to re-connect with the earth, and creates a haven for the native plants and animals with which we share this beautiful planet. Prairie meadows require no fertilizers or fungicides and few, if any, herbicides. The prairie grasses and flowers create high quality habitat for birds, butterflies, and other beneficial wildlife. The deep-rooted prairie plants encourage infiltration of rainwater into the soil, helping to reduce stormwater runoff and flooding. Prairies can also serve as excellent buffer strips between maintained turf and wetland areas, such as ponds, waterways, and marshes. The cover provided by the prairie grasses also complements adjacent wetlands, improving the environmental quality of existing water features. The initial costs of a prairie seeding are often a little higher compared to turf seedings, but significant long term savings result due to greatly reduced maintenance requirements. Any additional initial costs are usually recovered by the second year. Maintenance savings continue to accrue in following years, yielding very low “life cycle” costs for prairie meadows. Because native prairie flowers and grasses are almost exclusively perennials, they return to bloom year after year. A properly installed and maintained prairie meadow is a self-sustaining plant community that will provide landscape beauty for decades to come.