SESSION B2-B - Experiments in Piedmont Prairie Building

Amidst increasing public demand for native plants, a push to find alternatives to turf grass lawns, and a burgeoning awareness of the historic role grasslands have played in the ecological fabric of North Carolina, client demand for larger-scale herbaceous plantings is growing. However, information and precedents available to landscape architects practicing in North Carolina largely come from regions north and west of the state (as well as Europe), where climate conditions are not as analogous as one might hope. Plant height, competitiveness, bloom time, and lifespan can be radically different in North Carolina than even in states as close as Maryland or Tennessee. Even in our state’s larger metropolitan areas, sustained increases in temperature, especially at night, mean that Piedmont prairies in downtown Raleigh may behave differently than in downtown Roxboro. Additionally, many of the plants designers commonly regard as native come from states with significantly lower nighttime temperatures and shorter summers or are early successional plants with short life spans that disappear after a few years, leaving holes in prairies for invasive species to fill, potentially endangering enthusiasm for this critical, historical component of our ecosystem. As we work to preserve, restore, and promote native habitats in our work, successful large-scale herbaceous plantings can play an important role in achieving ecosystem service goals. Join Durham-based landscape architect, Preston Montague, for a presentation on his experience developing Piedmont prairies in a variety of environments in the rapidly developing Triangle.

Learning Objective:

• Experience with successes and failures in building Piedmont prairies

• Gain a better understanding of the limitations and opportunities of building large-scale herbaceous plantings in NC

• Ways Piedmont prairies can be deployed to provide solutions to common issues in landscape architecture like erosion control 

Lecture with slide show and short Q&A after