The Prairie and Wetland Center was my kind of place: all overgrown and full of growing things. I loved it. Here are a couple of photos of their selection area and display.
These tables are full of perennials. The low plants in the background in pink pots are Fame Flower (Talinum calycinum). I bought two pots. They grow on rocks and they're pretty. How could I not?
And this was my cart as I prepared to check out. It wasn't cheap. I paid over $200 for that cartful, but it was fun and I found most of what I wanted.
After we left the CritSite's Prairie and Wetland center we visited Heartland Nursery. I was impressed with their selection of native plants. I found a few that I couldn't get at the Prairie and Wetland center because they were still in production and not ready for sale yet. I even found an Elderberry (Sambucus nigra). I hadn't planned to purchase that since it isn't going in the area around the pond, but I didn't want to pass it up. What if I couldn't find one? The only plant I'm still missing is Butterfly Milkweed :-(
And this is the space my new purchases will fill - at least in part. That big pile of mulch is at the left edge of the area that will receive sun the majority of the day. The grasses, goldenrod, rattlesnake master, blazing stars, wild bergamot, penstemons, prairie dock, and at least one or two others that I can't remember will, with any luck, make a nice little prairie/meadow just outside my front door.
The other plants I purchased will soften the edge between the gravel path and the pond. Others, like the fame flower, will be placed in the rocks that edge the pond. And the American Beautyberry and Summersweet bushes will fill space near the waterfall.
Shortly after this photo was taken we had a huge rain and flash flooding. So not much was planted, but between thunderstorms I did spread all the mulch, getting nearly all the mud covered. And my new purchases won't suffer from lack of water :-)
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