Welcome! Scroll down to learn about our prairie.

Visit the FAQ to learn how we did it.

Check out About Us to learn why we ditched our boring old yard for a super rad prairie.

We are turning the majority of our yard into a tallgrass prairie garden. Our plan is to keep it as true to the ‘original’ landscape as possible.

We are using a mix of local grasses, flowers, and shrubs that would have been found in the area 250 years ago before the homesteaders arrived.

We’re also planting a native wildflower patch on the northeast part of the yard (planted spring 2023).

When the prairie matures in about 5 years, it will have a wild, natural look—we planted just about 100 different species of plants out there.

Some of the plants will reach 8–10 feet tall, though most will average around 3–4 feet. There will be lots of different colors, shapes, and textures, which will also change and shift with the seasons.

We will also be replacing the remaining front lawn with tall fescue. Fescue is a low-maintenance grass that we won’t have to mow or treat.

Our backyard will retain the traditional, “high-input” turf grass that most people are familiar with. We’ll use weed-and-feed during the season, maybe water it sometimes, complain about having to mow, and generally care for it like a regular yard.

When we started out, we knew we only wanted to use native plants. But as it turns out, you can get very specific about what that actually means!

With help from an amazing local ecologist, we were able to get a diverse seed mix that is specific to Polk County, Iowa. We made sure to include a variety of grasses, forbs (aka wildflowers), sedges, and legumes, in a ratio that mimics what might be found in a natural prairie.

The list of species is in the table below, or you can download a .csv file here.

Seed Mix:
Grass & Sedges: 51% | Forbs: 32% | Legumes: 17%

Summer 2023

This summer we will work on establishing the root systems for our native plants. To do that, we let everything grow a few feet tall, then trim it all back.

We did this for the first time on May 16. We had planted a cover crop for the winter, which you can learn more about in the FAQ, but it was time to cut it down and make room for our native plants to start growing.

Most native prairie plants have roots that reach 6 to 10 feet underground! This gives them access to more water and nutrients further down in the earth, and the additional mass below allows the plants to survive any damage or destruction above ground. While these root systems are one reason why prairies are so resilient, they can be quite vulnerable to competition from invasive species or fast-growing weeds when just starting out.

Most fast-growing weeds have very shallow roots, reaching only 2-4 inches deep. When you cut off the tops of weeds, they have no leaves to collect energy from the sun, nor any ‘reserves’ in their root systems to help them grow back. This effect is especially brutal in the hot, dry summer months.

In comparison, cutting off the tops of prairie plants is no more harmful than a haircut. The ‘partial mow’ mimics the activity of native grazing animals and can help promote growth in the long term.

To learn how we did all of the stuff leading up to this, check out the FAQ page.

Fall 2023

At the end of the season, we most likely won’t do anything. No real cleaning or clearing or thinning. We will try to let everything sit as it is, as the plants will provide shelter and food for animals. We also think the remaining “stuff” in the yard will help break up the grey monotony of Iowa winters….a tiny bit, at least.

2024 and Beyond

Hopefully, by the summer of 2024, we won’t have to do much of anything to the prairie. Depending on how good the roots did in the first season, we may have to continue to mow once or twice in the summer. But otherwise, we will just let it be.

After about five years, the prairie will collect enough dead, dry plant material so that we can conduct a prescribed burn—the final component of our plan.

Fire is a natural part of the prairie lifecycle and a critical element in their overall resilience. It’s the most effective way to recycle plants back into the earth, it clears space for animals to make habitats and eat, and it gives new plants room to sprout.

In the wild, fire also clears out resource-hungry trees and creates paths for migratory animals like bison or pronghorn.

With the appropriate permits and trained crews, prescribed burns are perfectly legal inside of Des Moines city limits. In fact, the city parks department conducts prescribed burns on the many prairie stands in our parks.

But, to be perfectly honest, we haven’t quite figured out how we will make this part work yet. We have a few ideas. But we also have a few more years before we need to have our plan together—more to come.