Prairie garden

North American prairies - grasslands of the Great Plains

Our prairie garden features a collection of typical grasses with many spectacular flowering shrubs. Hardly any other area changes its appearance so strikingly over the course of a year. The prairie garden unfolds its greatest splendor in late summer. In winter, the dry stems remain standing and provide winter quarters for insects.  The many seedpods are an important source of food for many birds who stop of or call our gardens their home.

The prairies of North America are located in the center of the American continent and extend over an area of 2.7 million square kilometers from southern Canada almost to the Mexican border. They were once among the largest steppes on earth.

The North American prairies are devoid of trees. In the short-grass prairies, it is too dry for trees to grow, while in the long-grass prairies deep-rooted and highly competitive grasses form a dense herbaceous layer that prevents trees from germinating.