We love having our hand in projects that fulfill all our values at once and this planned-prairie hits a home-run; stewardship, simplicity, habitat and community. Embracing their natural landscape, a client from a few years back requested a poolside garden for their home in the hills of western Nebraska. Account executive, Nate Huse, eagerly accepted the challenge of a planned, pool-side prairie. Nate is proud to hail from the midwest and has come to love and appreciate the landscape he grew up in. The overall theme for the project was “organized native.” With limited space to accomplish this in between the pool deck and a high terraced bed, Nate had to be creative with his design. Looking to the natural landscape as a guide, Nate sketched out a plan, focusing on drought tolerant natives in colony form. If you look at a natural setting, un-touched by man, you will start to see groups of one species occurring naturally. There is no use in reinventing the wheel when Mother Nature has had this whole “gardening thing” figured out for quite some time. This created the “organized” feel while still keeping true to the space’s western Nebraska roots. 

The team started by clearing the “canvas” and literally painted the lines out on the freshly cleared bed. The sketch was more of a guide as slight adjustments were needed to accommodate the unique terrain. As you can tell from the photo above, the original sketch played an important roll on the job site. Then when the plants came in, the project became a giant color by number picture. 

After one growing season you can still see the organization of the original design.

While some are opposed to planting native, claiming in Nebraska it’s glorified weed planting, there are many reasons to use a native plant pallet! First off, it embraces where we live and celebrates our heritage. These plants have evolved to handle the extreme weather changes that the Midwest is known for. Additionally, there are less gardening inputs; maintenance is very low once grown in. You don’t see a garden crew out in the wild rolling prairie! That’s because native plants no how to roll with the punches and thrive in the landscape they were created to be in. Not to mention native butterflies will be more abundant. But most importantly these plants fit the design intent of the Western Hills. It looks as though the landscape, although organized was there before the house.

And after just two growing season, look how robust the native plantings can be!Nate’s native composition included: Blue Stem, Pasque Flower, Purple Cone Flower, Purple Love Grass, Rattle Snake Nest’s and Heliopsis, each brining their own unique flair to the prairie. Growing native plants is what Nebraska does best, and embracing our landscape is what we do best! Good work all around!