Michigan Wildflowers

Vern Stephens

Designs By Nature, LLC

9874 Chadwick Road

Laingsburg, MI 48848

designsbynature@hotmail.com

517.651-6502

517.230-2923 (cell)

Cultural Guide

prairiemoon.com prairienursery.com

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

Native Plants Insects Critters

(Songbirds)

There Is A Critical Link Between All Three

Importance Of Native Plants

Bringing Nature Home

Doug Tallamy

Garden Design Rain Garden

Shade Garden

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

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

Shade and Water Gardens

Butterfly and Full Sun Gardens

Shade

and

Filtered

Light

Gardens

Butterfly

and

Specialty

Garden

Rain Garden Design

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

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

• 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

Weed Competition

White Trillium Purple Trillium

Hepatica

Wild Ginger Jack-In-The-Pulpit

Bloodroot

Wild Geranium Woodland Phlox

Maidenhair Fern Christmas Fern Lady Fern

Cinnamon Fern

Ostrich Plume Fern

Wood Fern Royal Fern

Interrupted Fern

New York Fern

May Apple

Pennsylvania Sedge

Bottlebrush Grass Virginia Wild Rye

Virginia Creeper

Thimbleweed

Bluebells and Tall Bellflower

Little Bluestem Big Bluestem Indian Grass

Switch Grass June Grass Prairie Dropseed

Fall Little Bluestem

Prickly Pear Cactus Horsemint Rough Blazingstar

Showy Goldenrod Colombine Butterfly Weed

Bergemot Black-Eyed Susan

Gray Headed Coneflower

Ironweed

Culver’s Root

Joe Pye Weed Marsh Blazingstar Wild Lupine

Early Goldenrod

Sand Tickseed False Dragonhead Stiff Goldenrod

Round Leaf Ragwort

False Boneset

Wild Iris

Mountain Mint Purple Coneflower

White Turtlehead

Compass Plant Prairie Coreopsis

Cup Plant

Pale Purple Coneflower

Rattlesnake Master

Foxglove Beardtongue

Blue-Eyed Grass

Hoary Vervain

Dwarf Lake Iris

Prairie Smoke

Harebell

Wild Petunia

Thank You!

Questions?