Nature in Your Backyard

By Patricia K. Armstrong

By restoring native habitats where we live, we can establish an everyday rapport with wild beauty. We’ll also have cleaner air and water and a healthier environment.

Why go native? Did the 2005 drought wreak havoc on your landscape and give you outrageous water bills? Maybe it’s time to think about reducing the amount of lawn in the yard and planting more native plants instead. Since native plants evolved in our area over tens of thousands of years, they have adapted to our soils and climate and need relatively little maintenance to survive. Besides, they are beautiful and provide habitat for native insects, birds, and other animals. There are native plants for all types of soil, for wet and dry areas, for sun and shade. All you need to do is assess your site and match the native plants to your conditions.

How Long Will It Take?

Don’t expect to replace your lawn or rose garden with a full-fledged prairie in the first year of your garden’s transformation. The conversion takes time and a lot of initial effort. Instead, set your sights on a more realistic three- to five-year plan.

First, you’ll need to kill existing plant life, such as turfgrass. Many methods don’t involve herbicide — try covering lawn with plastic, newspaper, woodchips, or combinations of these, or flopping sections of turf upside-down. Be sure to allow a month or two before planting to make sure you have won the battle.

Even once you’ve planted everything and you think you’re in full swing, it can take a couple of years or more for a native garden to become well-established and robust. Especially if you start from seeds, some plants may only begin to make a strong showing after three or more years. That’s natural. So be patient and enjoy the ride.

Know Your Yard

Before starting, take this opportunity to get to know your property. Spend time in the yard and take notes. Are there places puddles always form, places that regularly dry out? Which zones are sunny or shady, and for how long each day? What’s growing now, and where? (Hearty grass, for instance, is a sign that the soil underneath is fairly fertile.) Think about the views you’d like to create from various vantage points.

Nothing can be more disappointing to a novice gardener than carefully planning and planting a complex garden, only to find out that none of the plants can survive in the backyard. One way to avoid this is to start small — some people really enjoy working with a small plot, maybe just a few feet, and trying only a few plants to see what works. But if you’re transforming your yard, consult books and nursery experts before you invest. Determine your soil types by bringing a few samples to your local nursery or university extension. Or judge soil makeup by shaking up a sample in a glass jar with some water. Since sand, silt, and clay are of different densities, they form layers to reveal what proportion of each you have.

Choosing Plants

There are hundreds of plants adapted to the woodlands, prairies, and the multitude of variations on those habitats. To learn the strengths and weaknesses of specific plants for your garden situation, pick up Native Plants in the Home Landscape by Keith Gerard Nowakowski. Talk to volunteers with native gardening groups when they hold native plant sales. One of the best ways to learn native plants and how to manage them is to volunteer at a natural area near your home. You’ll be able to see for yourself the situations where plants grow best. You may even find a place that inspires your design. For still more detailed information about plant associations, the pros use the hefty Plants of the Chicago Region by Floyd Swink and Gerould Wilhelm.

Take a Class

Those who take the first steps toward a native garden may quickly realize that they’ve entered a complex and exciting world. They may suddenly find themselves inspired to learn why a bee balm gets along better with a yellow coneflower. There are plenty of great classes with which to satisfy your curiosity and answer questions. Try these places: College of DuPage Field Studies, (630) 942-3763; The Morton Arboretum, (630) 719-2469; the Chicago Botanic Garden, (847) 835-8261; The Natural Garden, (630) 584-0150; forest preserve districts; Wild Ones Natural Landscapers, (877) 394-9453.

Good Books

Gardening with Prairie Plants, Sally Wasowski

100 Easy-to-Grow Native Plants, Lorraine Johnson

Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Urban and Rural America, Gary L. Hightshoe

Native Trees for North American Landscapes, Guy Sternberg

Go Native, Carolyn Harstad

Planting Noah’s Garden, Sara Stein

To Start a Small Prairie Garden

Find the sunniest spot and lay out the shape of your prairie. It could be a circle, triangle, square, or freeform shape. Make it at least 15 to 20 square feet.

Kill the grass by covering it with several layers of newspaper and four to six inches of sand.

Buy an assortment of prairie plants (grasses and flowers) and plant them one per square foot.

Plant the tallest plants in the back, or in the center if you can view your garden from all around.

Be sure to include some flowers that bloom in spring, summer, and fall.

Prairie plants can grow in many kinds of soil, so gardeners don’t need to do anything special to the soil.

To Start a Small Woodland Garden

Make a circle around a tree in your yard, 10 to 20 feet in diameter.

Cover the whole area with four to six inches of wood chips and chopped leaves (woodland plants need this rich humus).

Plant shrubs or small trees to protect sensitive woodland plants from harsh sunlight and wind. Plant some at the edge of the circle or at the drip line of the tree (the edge of its branches), especially on the south and west sides.

Plant spring woodland wildflowers, ground covers, and ferns by digging into the soil under the wood chips.

With good planning and a diverse plant selection, your native garden can be beautiful and interesting all year long.

For more native plant suggestions, including preferred growing conditions, visit the Chicago Wilderness coalition Web site. Also, most of the nursery contacts listed here have extensive plant lists.

Regional Groups Promoting Native Landscaping

Conservation at Home, The Conservation Foundation, (630) 428-4500

Illinois EPA, (312) 886-0851

Illinois Native Plant Society, (217) 244-2171

Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society

Midwest Ecological Landscaping Association

National Wildlife Federation Back Yard Habitats, (703) 790-4000.

Prairie Sun Consultants, 612 Staunton Road, Naperville, IL 60565, (630) 983-8404

Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes, (877) FYI-WILD. Find your local chapter.

Nurseries & Contractors

Applied Ecological Services, Inc.

Art & Linda’s Wildflowers, Cicero, IL, (708) 785-2943

Country Road Greenhouses, Rochelle, IL, (815) 384- 3311

EarthWild Gardens, Grayslake, IL, (847) 287-7477

Floribunda Gardens, Oswego, IL, (630) 554-4688

JFNew Nursery, Walkerton, IN, (574) 586-2412

Midwest Groundcovers, St. Charles, IL, (847) 742-1790

Possibility Place Nursery, Monee, IL, (708) 534-3988

Prairie Moon Nursery, Winona, MN, (866) 417-8156

Prairie Nursery, Westfield, WI, (800) 476-9453

Red Buffalo Nursery, Hebron, IL, (815) 648-4838

Spence Restoration Nursery, Muncie, IN, (765) 286-7154

Spring Bluff Nursery, Sugar Grove, IL, (630) 466-4278

Taylor Creek Restoration Nurseries, Brodhead, WI, (608) 897-8641

The Growing Place, Naperville and Aurora, IL, (630) 355-4000

The Natural Garden, St. Charles, IL, (630) 584-0150

Walkup Heritage Farm & Gardens, Crystal Lake, IL (815) 459-7090

Related Articles

Create Your Own Butterfly Garden, CW, Summer 1999

Gardening for Seeds, CW, Fall 2001

Unlock Your Yard! Getting Started with Native Plant Gardening, CW, Spring 2002

The Native Garden Oasis, CW, Spring 2004

Touring the Winged Gardens, CW, Summer 2005