Perennial Meadow
Here, a wide range of plants has been chosen with long-lasting and strongly contrasting forms, providing interest through the seasons. And as the seasons advance, there is a distinct progression. In spring and early summer, Geranium, Amsonia, and Cammasia play a leading role, yet only a few flowering plants have strong structures that persist as an ornamental feature into the next flush of growth, such as Amsonia with its upright bushy form and attractive foliage, and the yellow-green umbels of our native Zizia aurea. What is particularly striking at this time is the role played by many as yet to flower plants with their lush and contrasting colored foliage, providing filler and bulk in a supporting role when flowers are few and far between. These include the gray-blue strap-like foliage of Eryngium yuccifolium and the deep red foliage of Penstemon ‘Husker’s Red’.
As spring moves into summer, the planting increases in height, and the species composition is increasingly dominated by plants of North American origin, such as Penstemon, Stachys, Echinacea, Phlox, and Liatris, all of which continue to provide valuable structure after flowering. Roughly half of this planting consists of grasses of mixed origin – Sesleria, Deschampsia, Calamagrostis, and Panicum. With the arrival of early fall, the very tallest plants, such as Vernonia, Eupatorium, and Rudbeckia subtomentosa, begin to flower and visually dominate the back of the planting with their bulk. Eventually, bright colors are few and far between, yet can seem even more enchanting in contrast with the many earth tones of the persistent structural seed heads of earlier flowering plants and brightly colored fall foliage. As winter strengthens its grip, all that remains are the skeletons of plants, which often remain upright until the first heavy snowfall.
As far as the shape of the garden is concerned, in places it is as deep as it is long, allowing for greater layering and repetition of plants. Furthermore, the depth of the planting area allows one to walk into the planting, thereby gaining a significantly different perspective as they progress along a designated path, the effect of which is considerably more intimate and inspiring than looking at the planting from the outside. Like all the display gardens, the composition of the Perennial Meadow is largely determined by the character of the soil, which in this case is clay loam. Culturally, this garden is managed similarly to the Deschampsia and Carex Meadows and for similar reasons. Before crashing down with the first heavy wet snow, the dead top growth of plants is incrementally chopped with shears and left lying as fertilizer and mulch at the base, and come spring, it is further incorporated with a mulching mower set high. This ‘mulch’ likewise helps to reduce the heaving of plants from frost, which is a particular issue with clay soils. When maintaining a garden in this way, it becomes clear that an added benefit of grasses is the copious amount of biomass they generate, whereas most broad-leaved plants (forbs) are nothing but stems come late fall. Grasses thus have a strong ecological role in sustaining the soil and the garden ecosystem that depends on it.
