Border Builder

Meadow plants

Plants suited to a meadow planting scheme.

A meadow border captures the loose, naturalistic drift of a wildflower field: grasses woven through perennials in informal sweeps, plants allowed to mingle and self-seed, with the eye carried across the planting rather than stopped at neat blocks. The crucial and most-missed point is fertility, as meadow plants need lean soil; on rich ground the grasses and thugs swamp the flowers, so do not feed or improve it. Plant in interlocking groups rather than clumps, mixing flower and grass, and cut back once in late winter to leave seed heads and structure standing. These plants are chosen for that prairie-meadow effect, combining airy grasses with long-flowering perennials that knit into a self-sustaining tapestry.

Border Builder is a garden border planner for iPhone and iPad. Pick from the 224 plants below and it works them into a full plan: how many of each, where they go, and how the bed reads through the seasons.

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224 plants for this

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