Prairie garden

This perennial border is brimming with a colorful, naturalistic planting. It is the perfect tranquil setting in which to relax and enjoy a summer day with friends and family. Easy to grow and fairly low care, most plants are attractive to butterflies or hummingbirds!

Design a native landscaping plan that resonates with the general public. Consider these tips to keep your landcape from being the neighborhood "weed patch".

You can sit back and enjoy your garden.

Garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith raised his own prairie garden from seed and was delighted to find it requires a fraction of the maintenance of a conventional border

An Iowa gardener takes cues from nature to create an easy-care wildlife haven filled with colorful native plants.

The display gardens are a living classroom; where customers and staff can observe, analyze and share feedback on mature plants and review new plants grown in trial gardens. From plant combinations and species comparisons to lighting conditions, and plant communities, the learning opportunities are unique to each garden.

Continuing her series on designers' gardens, this month Clare Foster visits the Dutch garden of Piet Oudolf, the hub of his experimentation with plants for more than 30 years

Landscape architecture, urban & garden design www.houblon.org

Tips on using structural grasses and colourful perennial to create a prairie-style planting

Prairie borders take their inspiration from the vast grassland and horizons of the American plains. This natural style of design is known as Prairie planting. It uses bold blocks of plants and colours. Allowing groups to self seed and colonize. Rich in pollen for insects and following a very natural flow. This guide will show you just how easy it is to achieve in the smallest of gardens.