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Michigan Wildflowers
Vern Stephens
Designs By Nature, LLC
9874 Chadwick Road
Laingsburg, MI 48848
517.651-6502
517.230-2923 (cell)
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Cultural Guide
prairiemoon.com prairienursery.com
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Why Native Grasses and Wildflowers?
Native grasses are important to many different ecosystems in Michigan
* Can adapt to poor quality soils because of their extensive root systems
* Are drought tolerant
* Out compete weeds, yet are not aggressive
* Require less maintenance
* With proper installation practices, establishment may be less than 2 years
Native grasses improve water quality
* Extensive root systems filter out nutrients and provide erosion control
* Require less fertilizers or pesticides that could impact water quality
* Tests show that the root systems do not interfere with agricultural tiles
Native grasses improve air quality
* Fix carbon from the air reducing global warming
* Less maintenance reduces carbon monoxide input from machinery
Native grasses provide wildlife benefits
* Grasses attract insects that are food sources for game and song birds
* Provide nesting and resting areas
* Provide escape cover from predators
* Serve as areas of thermal protection during winter
* Seed heads become food sources for many species of wildlife
* Grasses are high in nutrients as forage for grazers
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Native Plants Insects Critters
(Songbirds)
There Is A Critical Link Between All Three
Importance Of Native Plants
Bringing Nature Home
Doug Tallamy
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Garden Design Rain Garden
Shade Garden
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Site Preparation
Begins with Site Analysis
Soils (Type/pH) Lighting Moisture
Slope Existing Vegetation (Invasives)
Remove Existing Vegetation
Burning Cultivation Herbicide Application
or a combination of any of the above
Most Important Step to Any Successful Planting
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Establish A PlantingTimeline
May 15th
Planting Date
April 30th Spray April 7th Spray
(Fallow/Idle Field)
Consider Fall Prior Prep
Any soil work-up needs to be only the top 2 inches
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Shade and Water Gardens
Butterfly and Full Sun Gardens
Shade
and
Filtered
Light
Gardens
Butterfly
and
Specialty
Garden
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Rain Garden Design
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Installation
Seed – Larger Areas or Budget Limitations
Takes Longer to Become Established
Plugs – Quicker Flowering/Many Bloom Same Year
More Expensive
Used on Medium Size Projects
Quarts – Mature Plants/No Waiting for Results
More Expensive/Easy to Landscape With
Rule of Thumb for Spacing:
One wildflower/square foot One grass/3 square feet
A prairie mix is 70% grasses and 30% wildflowers
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Maintenance
Monitor for weed development periodically
Yearly remove litter by mowing, burning or weed whipping
Done in early spring before green-up
On larger plantings consider only removing 1/3 of the litter
each year
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• Removes litter, set backs succession,
increases soil temperatures
• Spring and fall burns
• Firebreaks
• Attain permits
• Burn plan
goals, equipment, method
wind, humidity, temperatures
Safety!!!
Burning
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Weed Competition
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White Trillium Purple Trillium
Hepatica
Wild Ginger Jack-In-The-Pulpit
Bloodroot
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Wild Geranium Woodland Phlox
Maidenhair Fern Christmas Fern Lady Fern
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Cinnamon Fern
Ostrich Plume Fern
Wood Fern Royal Fern
Interrupted Fern
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New York Fern
May Apple
Pennsylvania Sedge
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Bottlebrush Grass Virginia Wild Rye
Virginia Creeper
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Thimbleweed
Bluebells and Tall Bellflower
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Little Bluestem Big Bluestem Indian Grass
Switch Grass June Grass Prairie Dropseed
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Fall Little Bluestem
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Prickly Pear Cactus Horsemint Rough Blazingstar
Showy Goldenrod Colombine Butterfly Weed
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Bergemot Black-Eyed Susan
Gray Headed Coneflower
Ironweed
Culver’s Root
Joe Pye Weed Marsh Blazingstar Wild Lupine
Early Goldenrod
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Sand Tickseed False Dragonhead Stiff Goldenrod
Round Leaf Ragwort
False Boneset
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Wild Iris
Mountain Mint Purple Coneflower
White Turtlehead
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Compass Plant Prairie Coreopsis
Cup Plant
Pale Purple Coneflower
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Rattlesnake Master
Foxglove Beardtongue
Blue-Eyed Grass
Hoary Vervain
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Dwarf Lake Iris
Prairie Smoke
Harebell
Wild Petunia
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Thank You!
Questions?