Events

We are excited to invite you to Bringing the Prairie Home: How to Add Native Plants to your Full-Sun Garden by Drew Reaves of Save the Prairie Society

Drew Reaves tends the beautiful prairie house garden at Wolf Road Prairie in Westchester, IL. His work in this garden inspired him to establish a full-sun garden at his own home using native prairie plants. Drew will teach us how to determine proper placement of native prairie plants by accommodating their light and moisture requirements. Drew will also discuss drainage to regulate water levels and incorporating places to observe and enjoy the plants and the animals they attract.

For inspiration, Drew provided a list of some of the plants he grows in his garden: Blue Flag Iris, Bottle Gentian, Culver's Root, Ironweed, Leadplant, Obedient Plant, Pink Turtlehead, Queen of the Prairie, Rattlesnake Master, Spiderwort, Swamp Rose-mallow, Wild Senna and Yarrow, plus various Coneflowers, Liatris, Lobelia (Cardinal and Blue), Milkweeds (Butterfly, Common, Prairie and Swamp), Monarda, Silphia (Compass Plant, Cup Plant and Prairie Dock) and Wild Indigos, as well as Big Bluestem, Bottlebrush and Prairie Dropseed Grasses and Bur and Palm Sedges.

Speaker Bio

Drew Reaves is a retired German teacher with a PhD in German Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Save of Prairie Society affiliated with Wolf Road Prairie in Westchester, IL. In addition to his role on the board, Drew designed and cares for the Franzosenbusch Prairie House Garden at Wolf Road Prairie.

This event is Part 4 in our 4 part series Bringing Native Plant Communities Home.

Please watch the recording or register for these related programs:

March 20: Woodland, Savanna, Prairie: How Native Plant Communities Fit In Your Garden by Iza Redlinski (click link to view recording)

April 10: Bringing the Woodland Home by Roy Diblik of Northwind Perennial Farm (click link to view recording)

May 15: Bringing the Savanna Home by Julia Bunn of The Spirited Gardener (click link to register)