The Blooming Prairie Advantage
Designing and Building Native Prairies
For Any Landscape
We run an established native prairie flower growing center where all of our plants are sourced to thrive in Iowa’s climate.
PLANTING A PRAIRIE FOR YOUR
NATURAL ECOSYSTEM
At Blooming Prairie Nursery, we pride ourselves on setting the standard of excellence for maintaining prairies. Prairies aren’t your average gardens and they need special attention that varies depending on size, soil, wind, and sun exposure.
We specialize in helping large-scale prairies thrive in their first years of development. Our expertise however lies in bringing prairies and their natural wildlife inhabitants back into the city.
Homeowners, city governments, local businesses, and conservationists have all come to rely on our expertise for installation and maintenance.
Native Prairie Design and Planting
Building Your Prairie
Blooming Prairie Nursery installs a full spectrum of prairies from short grass, to Iowa’s most common, the tall grass prairie. Our nursery houses a wide variety of grasses and forbes that will create a stunning prairie-scape on any type of land. A prairie’s success relies heavily on proper preparation and installation. Blooming Prairie follows a thorough three-stage process to make sure the seed, grasses, and flowers thrive.
Soil & Site Testing
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Measure the area, identify water sources and watershed
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Look for clay and organic content, measure the nitrogen and chemical levels to understand what nutrients are lacking and need to be restored.
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Add in missing nutrients through propriety solutions like Ready to Use, worm castings and radishes.
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Site-testing may result in any of the following service recommendations in addition to your prairie installation.
Soil quality restoration
Erosion control
Black dirt or compost additions
Woodchip mulching
Bio-retention landscaping
Native Plant Selection
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With every native flower we sell, we’re working together to restore Iowa’s heritage of rich fertile soil. We’ll find natives to aid in recharging ground water and restore habitat for wildlife and insects specific to your site.
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Blooming Prairie offers four different sizes of prairie forbes and grasses to grow a prairie from seed or to plant an established-looking prairie plot, whichever fits your needs. Our plants are sold in 38” cone cells, gallon pots, bare roots and seeds for that very reason
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To attract Hummingbirds, your garden needs a variety of native wildflowers. The key to attracting hummingbirds; plant multiple small gardens because of the territorial nature of male hummingbirds. This way, you can enjoy the fun of watching the male hummingbird guard his territory.
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These gardens are designed to attract butterflies and other insects with diverse color schemes to draw in pollinators.
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Blooming Prairie Nursery wants to bring the beauty of prairies to your office, park or backyard by offering all sizes of native plantings that will bloom throughout the year. If you don’t have the space for a full prairie but want to plant native flowers, we have something for you.
Prairie Flower Installation
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3″ and 4″ potted plants
Longer Roots for Stronger Plants
Deep roots grow hardier plants that are able to withstand tougher conditions
Traditional 72 cell plugs can die after a day without water which is why we offer our customers the hardier 3″ and 4″ pots
Our plants’ deeper and more extensive root systems propagate freely after being transferred into the ground
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1 gallon pots measure 6 inches high and 7.5 inches at the opening
One-to-two year plants with large root systems
Best potted plant option for quickest establishment of prairie gardens
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Receive only the dormant root
Our most hardy root system dug directly from the ground in Spring
No chance of receiving root bound plants
Quickly establish robust prairie by planting bare root
*Option available in the spring for a specific set of forbs
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Tip: Prairie maintenance is vital for the first five years of your prairie’s life. It’s very important to take care of your land in the beginning to ensure the long term stability of the prairie flowers and natural ecosystem.