By Laurie Zitterkopf
Nebraska Extension Master Gardener
April 9 – Less weeds, more WOW. For healthy plant communities, try the four-tiered system from planting in a post wild world (rainer and west). Tier 1 – Anchor plants 10-15 percent, tall, well-behaved, long-lived plants. Tier 2 – Seasonal Stars 25-40 percent mid-height plants with flowers or textures that shine. Tier 3 – Placeholders 5-10 percent Short-lived plants that reseed to fill gaps. Tier 4 – Groundhuggers 50 percent low, spreading plants that cover the ground at 60 plants for 100 square feet.
April 10 – In a Prairie Pollinator Garden a solid framework is important. Anchor plants 10-15 percent of your plants are large, long-loved plants that have distinct forms: Wild Indigo, Gayfeather, Leadplant, or Rose Milkweed, just to name a few. If using Gayfeather, a good ratio is six Gayfeather plants to every 50 plants. Find a favorite to design your garden around. This is the plant to catch your eye as you walk by.
April 11 – In a Prairie Pollinator Garden our senses are heightened. Seasonal stars are 25-40 percent, 15 plants for every 50 plants and two species. They are mid-height plants with a medium lifespan. Our seasonal stars have a showy attribute or two. One looking scruffy at a certain time of year can hide behind another in its peak season, so use plants with different periods of interest. Seasonal stars should be free to spread and move. This is key for garden longevity.
April 12 – In a Prairie Pollinator Garden gaps need to be filled. Placeholders 5-10 percent, four plants to every 50 plants. Placeholders are temporary-there when you need them, gone when you don’t, which makes annual, biennial, and short-lived plants good candidates for this tier. Placeholders behave like weeds would, and help cover bare spots to give other plants time to establish. These don’t do well with competition, so when longer-lived plants settle in, these placeholders move out.
April 13 – In a Prairie Pollinator Garden a living mulch is needed. Groundhuggers 50 percent, 25 of 50 plants. Groundhuggers are low-growing plants that live underneath the canopy of taller plants in the other tiers. They need to be shade, and stress-tolerant. Their job is to cover the ground. Many spreading plants perform well, but non-spreading plants work too. While there might be few species of plants used in other tiers, here you can mix it up because they are mostly out of view.