Prairie Gardens

My prairie gardens are scattered around my yard wherever there is full sun. Most Kansas plants are prairie plants and therefore like full sun. To create more sun areas in my yard I cut down a pine tree in the front yard and a silver maple in the back yard. Both areas are so much nicer now. Here is a nice collection of pictures of my yard throughout the season. Click on the picture to see it enlarged.

This is my front yard in early spring. Prairie phlox and Missouri evening primrose are in bloom. This area used to be fescue grass. In the foreground there used to be a pine tree. I opened the area up and planted wildflowers that I grew from seed I collected in the wild.

Later in the season, the same plot has beebalm, gray-headed coneflower, and wooly verbena in bloom. These three are very floriferous and the blooms last about one month. I love all the textures and colors in this prairie garden.

This is the same plot as viewed from the street. The yellow in the foreground is black-eyed susan - it is one of my favorites because it produces so many blooms. To purple flower to the right of the black-eyed susan is wooly verbena . The purple to the left is purple prairie clover.

Some close ups of gayfeather and rattlesnake master growing in the front yard. Unfortunately the gayfeather died out.

The backyard in the middle of winter. Note the "snowcaps" on the pale coneflower. The large plant in the back is cup plant. I usually leave part of my garden in place all winter for wildlife, and in the spring I mow over it and just leave the mulch on the ground. It seems to help control the weeds. In the past I always mowed everything off and put in the garden, but this seems to encourage weeds such as chickweed.

Oodles of Missouri evening primrose growing along my driveway. This is a sight to behold around dusk when they open completely. It's such an easy plant to grow from seed and will bloom the first year.

Pale Purple Coneflower puts on a show in my back yard. This is a favorite native wildflower because it blooms for so long. Also the petals tend to relax and hang down as the flower matures.

Showy beardtongue blooming in my front yard. The large blooms are very attractive. These species is doesn't like competition and in this area has been replaced naturally by more aggressive species.

This is the sun area of my backyard filled with the greenery of eastern gama grass on the left and cup plant in the center back. You can also see white false indigo blooming in the center. On the left is butterfly milkweed. This is one of my favorite pictures because of the lushness and the textures of all the plants.

Butterfly milkweed in the front yard. In the foreground is yarrow. In the far back right is willow-leaf sunflower. It's not blooming but its leaves have an interesting texture.

These michigan lilies I started from small bulbs I found in a woodland. It's interesting because the species will survive in woodlands but never bloom. But once it get sunlight, it will finally bloom. These took four years to get to the stage of blooming. I have them growing in rich garden in a raised bed in my vegetable garden.

Flowers galore by my mailbox. The orange is butterfly milkweed, the pink is pale coneflower, and the yellow is black-eyed susan.

Black-eyed susans are a favorite of mine. This is one of our few showy annual flowers of the prairie.

Smooth blue aster found in my front yard. I love all the aster species, but this one is interesting because of its blue-green foliage.

Downy goldenrod puts on a nice display at the entry of my driveway. This is a species that benefits from being cut down early in the season, so the regrowth flowers more and is less leggy.

Tall boneset blooming up a storm. This is one of the eupatoriums.

Gray goldenrod and button gayfeather fill this area along my driveway. Both make excellent companion plants are really bring in the pollinating insects.