Meadow gardens are a voguish matter in the garden macrocosm . You may have picture some beautiful meadows in garden books and magazine or even mightily here in key Virginia . Perhaps you ’ve tramp the one that winds along the circumference of IX Art Park or the large meadow at Preddy Creek Park .
credibly the most prominent meadow garden in town is the one at Martha Jefferson Hospital , and if you have n’t seen it yet , get thee to the MJH ! It ’s pretty and it ’s inspiring . On top of that , hayfield have been tout as a way to reduce the environmental and economical toll of turf grass lawns . Have you — like me — been inspired to make your own hayfield garden ? Before you start rip out your turf , let ’s take a faithful look .
mountain of folk have made the mistake of thinking that they can make a beautiful meadow in their railyard by simply sow some seeds from a “ hayfield in a can ” or by allow a cleared region “ go innate ” – – and then putting the lawn mower into permanent storage . I ’m sorry to say that a meadow garden is NOT the elbow room to get out of mow . As I ’ve observed in my own vicinity , the result is likely to be a involved web of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree seedling and invasives . If that ’s not meadow horticulture , then what is ?
What is meadow gardening ?
For crank , I really ca n’t emphasize this too much : meadow gardening is still GARDENING!As one thoughtful landscaper has sagely designate out : “ fling some wildflower cum onto the lawn and retire the mower is not likely to produce something attractive or long-lasting . ” Nick Novick , “ Getting existent With Meadows,”www.ecolandscaping.org(July 16 , 2010 ) . And so now I ’m go to follow Novick ’s advice and get real about meadow here in cardinal Virginia .
When we believe of the term “ meadow ” most of us intend of a grassland with wild efflorescence . The native grassland of the midwestern United States , now mostly go , are write of aboriginal , marvelous grasses , and are in the main referred to as “ prairies . ” These meadow were a natural answer of the climate , geology and soils of that neighborhood , as well as disturbances have by orotund herds of animals .
But we gardeners in the easterly one-half of the country must recognize thata hayfield is rarely a “ natural ” affair in our area . This fact was contribute home to me late when I began studying a Holy Writ titledThe American Meadow Garden : Creating a Natural option to the Traditional Lawnby John Greenlee . This Quran is make full with photograph of gorgeous hayfield garden , but I could n’t help detect that most of them were place in California or other parts of the West or in the prairie province , where the gardeners do not have to fight nature to keep their hayfield going . struggle nature ? That ’s right . Nature has other plan for the eastern half of our land .
Midwestern prairie are consider a “ culmination ” plant community because the community of grassland plant which pass off there is the last point of succession in that region . Successionis an bionomic full term for the gradual “ change in the constitution and body structure of a plant community over time . ” Va. Dept . of Conservation and Recreation , Natural Heritage , www.dcr.virginia.gov / lifelike - heritage / innate - communities/ , ( “ The Natural Communities of Virginia : Classification of Ecological Community Groups , ” Version 3.0 , April , 2017 ) .
Basically this chronological sequence business means that your yard really wants to be a forest . Our open arena are in an early successional stage which will step by step revert to mostly woody works and Tree over time . But that does n’t mean that if you really desire to create a meadow garden , you ca n’t . It just means that you ’ll have to cut down at least once a year to cut down the tree diagram seedling . And you ’ll have to do some weed . Sorry !
If the sustentation ingredient does n’t monish you , then take on , but keep in creative thinker that , as with any gardening , you ’ll have to invest a goodly amount of time in situation preparation and in learning about the plants that will be suit to your hayfield garden .
Grass are crucial to a meadow
Any hayfield or prairie is draw up of a eminent share of grass . Yes , grasses . I know , I bed — you were thinking along the lines of a subject area of black - eyed Susans and other coloured flowers . I was , too . But then I learned that those flowers need the companionship of grasses . And there are a numeral of reasons for this — not the least of which is that those tall prime you and I are dreaming about may need the support of Grass nearby to keep them upright !
So the moxie of your meadow garden must be grasses , and to be more specific , grasses andsedges , which are modest , grasslike plants of the genuscarex . sedge make honest groundcover in a meadow garden . Both grasses and sedge are part of theGraminoidfamily . to choose the right ace for your location , you ’ll take to get word a little bit about our region ’s aboriginal graminoids .
Consider Using LOCAL Native Plants
You ’ll be well - advised to deal using LOCAL aboriginal flora in your meadow . And there are indeed native plant that are adapted to meadows decent here in our area . According to Devin Floyd , a plant community survey specialist , native landscape architect , and executive director of The Center for Urban Habitats ( CUH ) , the State of Virginia at one fourth dimension had a few native prairie in the Piedmont region . Yes , prairies . Indeed , Virginia had a pregnant identification number of open space , let in great expanses of prairie , savanna , and woodland habitat . And these prairies were eclipse by little Andropogon gerardii ( Schizachyrium scoparium , pictured at remaining ) , handsome bluestem ( Andropogon gerardii ) , broomsedge ( Adropogon virginicus ) , gray goldenrod ( Solidago nemoralis ) , plus hoary mountainmint ( Pycnanthemum incanum ) , small ’s ragwort ( genus Packera anonyma ) , vulgar dewberry bush ( Rubus flagellaris ) , upland ironweed ( Vernonia glauca ) , and toothed white - topped aster ( Sericocarpus asteroides ) . CUH employs these mintage , and about 150 others , in its ecosystem - modeled native meadows . Using these local native appeals to me , and if it appeals to you , too , translate on ! One starting distributor point is at the Center for Urban Habitats , based in Charlottesville . CenterforUrbanHabitats.com;www.facebook.com / CenterForUrbanHabitats .
Floyd has an ecologic approach to choosing works for a given site ; he attempts to find a nearby native plant community and apply it as a model . How ? He conducts surveys of native plants in our area , and then define the “ native flight ” of a garden website through an analysis of its characteristics . You do n’t really have to do your own survey to identify local native for your meadow garden , though snug observance of your property is bound to be helpful . You and I can take reward of others ’ survey , which spring the fundament for several excellent sources for local native .
I recommend that you start with the wonderful newfangled handbook , Piedmont Native Plants : A Guide for Landscapes and Gardens(Piedmont Natives Team , Repp Glaettli , ed . ) . you could obtain your own copy of this al-Qur’an from the Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District , www.tjswcd.org . This account book has utile impression , cultural testimonial , and other helpful information , include a map and description of the multiple ecoregions in cardinal Virginia . Each of these ecoregions has a particular geology , hydrology , soil , and , as a issue , characteristic plant community .
For more elaborated , ecologically sound advice on aboriginal works communities , you ’ll need to go to the Department of Conservation and Recreation ’s site I mentioned before , dcr.virginia.gov / rude - inheritance / PLANT COMMUNITIES . This DCR website also has a nifty “ aboriginal plant finder ” you might require to examine . You simply fill in a few free fall - down bill of fare items — such as our region ( Piedmont ) , the type of plants you wish to receive ( grasses and sedge , for instance ) — and voila ! — it bring about a listing of native plants in that category for our region . Then you’re able to iron out on the name of the plant and up come more information , plus photograph ( some good , some not so good ) of that plant . you’re able to try it out atwww.dcr.virginia.gov/NativePlantFinder(on the master menu , tap Natural Heritage , then tap Native Plants , and then in the Native Plants menu , tap Native Plant Finder ) . Have playfulness !
A good ground for our native grasses and sedges is thePiedmont Native Plantshandbook , whichrecommends the following grasses for our field :
The Center for Urban Habitats recommends the followinggraminoid ‘ starter tilt ’ for a dry hayfield in the Central Virginia Piedmont :
And now for the flowers!The recommended natives that you will wish to consider admit :
Pyncnanthemum incanum(hoary mountain mint ) and swallowtail butterfly Photo : Tom Potterfield
Designing a Meadow Garden
canonical plant composition : Most meadow - makers commend that meadow gardens consist of60 % pot , and about40 % forbs — those flowering plant life we love . The precise percentage is not decisive , however . You ’ll want perennial grasses , but when it number to flowers , admit some annuals , particularly those that will likely ego - come for you , likeRudbeckia hirta(black - eyed Susan ) .
You ’ll have to give some retainer to your neighbor , especially if you subsist in a city or suburban area . A front G hayfield will be more satisfactory if it is surrounded by a manicured segment of turf grass or well - incline garden ; a meadow that make all the manner to the street is much more likely to evoke controversy . You ’ll also need to influence if there are ordination or rules of a homeowner association that lend oneself to your attribute .
As with any garden , you ’ll ask to consider the specifics of your land site — its orientation to the sun , gradient , soil , moisture and the comparable . Before you embark on a meadow garden undertaking , I urge that you tour one or more of our local hayfield garden and take a just look at the flora and their arrangement . And even though a meadow garden seems ultra - casual , you ’ll still need to mind that introductory horticulture principle — that drifts of the same plant are normally the most effective and optic - pleasing transcription . That ’s how nature does it , too .
I memorise a lot by studying the meadow garden at Martha Jefferson Hospital . And that ’s where I determine for the first time the delicate lavender blossom ofMonardafistulosa , a plant that immediately became a centerpiece of my own dreaming hayfield garden .
Many of us who are looking to set up a meadow garden are sell with a hot , dry site , and for that situation , you ’ll find the follow plant to be peculiarly well - suited :
– The Center for Urban Habitats , centerforurbanhabitats.com . This grouping is also ideal for a “ hell strip ” between street and pavement or a drive margin . The boldness of the yellowness is softened by the purple cloud oscillate about the purple lovegrass .
Then there ’s the matter of findingsources for the plant you ’ve chosenand resolve whether you ’ll use seeds , plugs ( small thumb - size plants ) , regular nursery plants or some combination thereof . You ’ll find alist of sources for aboriginal hayfield plants at the end of this article .
canonical provision for a hayfield
You ’ll have the most success if you start with territory that is weed - complimentary , or as close to that as you may achieve . Some commercial-grade landscapers use multiple weedkiller treatments as the first step in site cooking . If that ’s not appealing to you , you could apply other method — such as digging up turf or smothering or solarizing . The latter two — smothering and solarizing — involve placing big sheet of charge card over the situation for several months starting in late bound and leaving them in space for the remainder of the growing time of year . As an alternative to bootleg plastic , you could smother your turf grass with 6 inches of wood chips , 4 - by-8 piece of plywood , or a layer of newspapers 20 sheets slurred with wood chips on top .
In my own yard , I used solarisation after removing and cutting to the earth a while of invasives . I followed directions from the University of California Cooperative Extension — using heavyset sheets of clean-cut plastic , which countenance the sun to “ cook ” those pesky smoke and weed seeds . One thing I larn from my experience is the importance of getting that plastic nice and pissed over the soil surface ; in areas where it was easy , some unwanted plants pull round . “ Soil Solarization for Gardens and Landscapes , ” Univ . of California Cooperative Extension , ucanr.edu / sites / Solarization
Another method acting you could try is selective weed — a method that is viable if you have a pocket-size website and specially if you have a patch with some indigen already boom .
What if you have a very large area you ’d wish to turn into a meadow ? agree to the Penn State Extension Service , the best way to prepare alarge siteis to till the soil and plant a cover crop , such as buckwheat , which will shade off out the exist flora . After you cut down the matured cover craw , till again during blistering , dry weather to dry out the roots of any remaining weeds and supergrass .
Once you have your site cleared , you require to be quick to found it ; otherwise , you ’re just invite weeds and invasives . If you prepare your site in the fall , but you ’re planning to install your plant in the outflow , you require to be able to hatch it — with mulch or charge card , for representative — until spring .
Maintenance of a meadow garden
truthful confessions time : the first few old age of alimony involve some hard lifting , as I discovered during my research . That ’s because you ’ve got to terminate weeds before they take over . This think of that you ’ll have to pout frequently during the first class before plant have a chance to go to flower and place seed . That stops undesirable plants from drop new seeds for the undermentioned year . alas , all that mowing will prevent your beloved wildflowers from bloom , too . But they ’ll be growing and diffuse and you ’ll see the welfare — and the blooms — later . Penn . State Extension.psu.edu/natural-resources/wildlife/landscaping-for-wildlife/pa-wildlife-5
Over the long terminus , the most important sustainment is mowing everything down to stubble once a year at the destruction of wintertime ( late February through early March ) . Some meadow - makers use burning instead of mowing.www.dgif.virginia.gov/grow-a-native-grass-meadow-1.pdf . For more particular on maintenance , I refer you to the Center For Urban Habitat ’s Keys to a Successful Meadow of Natives , below .
Have you make a meadow garden ? If so , I ’d love to hear from you — and we could all learn from your experience . Also , if you settle to embark on this project , please let me know how it goes . And send photos , please !
Center for Urban Habitat ’s Keys to a Successful Meadow of Natives
Planning
Installation and Year One
yr Two :
yr Three and Thereafter
Plant and Seed Sources
SOURCES : ( books and website links )
The American Meadow Garden : make a born Alternative to the Traditional Lawn , ” ( Greenlee , 2009 )
Urban and Suburban Meadows : Bringing Meadowscaping to Big and Small Spaces(Catherine Zimmerman , 2010 )
Bringing Nature Home,(Doug Tallemy , 2009 )
Piedmont Native Plants : A Guide for Landscapes and Gardens(Piedmont Natives Team , Repp Glaettli , ed . ) , uncommitted from Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District , 706 Forest St # G , Charlottesville , VA.http://www.tjswcd.org
Center for Urban Habitats , centerforurbanhabitats.com;www.facebook.com / CenterForUrbanHabitats
“ get a Native Grass Meadow,”virginia.gov / develop - a - native - grass - hayfield - pdf
www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/natural-communities , ( “ The Natural Communities of Virginia : Classification of Ecological Community Groups , ” Va. Dept . of Conservation and Recreation , Natural Heritage , Version 3.0 , April , 2017 ) .
“ Meadows and Prairies : Wildlife - Friendly Alternatives to Lawn , ” Penn State Extension , extension.psu.edu / natural - resources / wildlife / landscaping - for - wildlife / pa - wildlife-5 .
vaplantatlas.org(Digital Atlas of the Flora of Virginia )
“ Ecosystem Modeling in Landscape Design , ” ( Devin Floyd , 2016 )
www.albemarle.org/nativeplants .
“ Soil Solarization for Gardens and Landscapes , ” Univ . of California Cooperative Extension , ucanr.edu / land site / Solarization / files/114635.pdf
