Plants for prairie style garden
Prairie style gardens are planted with a mix of wispy grasses and late-flowering perennials to create a naturalistic appearance. Prairie gardens involve planting in large drifts, or at least groups of odd numbers of plants, in fairly tight formation. A little more structure and formality may be introduced by using large, architectural grasses or topiary plants with strong lines or fanciful shapes. Essential grasses for the prairie border are stipa with light, wispy pale yellow-green foliage and switch grass (panicum) with tough, reed-like foliage. The best prairie perennials include coneflower (echinacea) with fabulous daisy-like flowers in rich hues of oranges, pinks, reds and whites and rudbeckia plants, one of our favourites, mainly producing rich sun-yellow flowers. Alternatively, achillea is a reliable, hardy, long-flowering herbaceous perennial that is ideal for maintaining a sense of informality. The key when planting is to have a consistent theme and colours running through your border, repeating the same plants in different places and avoiding a jumble of too many different varieties.