Walking on the wild side

In prairie, naturalistic or ‘new perennial’ gardens, plants are chosen to suit their environment and grow in a more natural way, says Anne Swithinbank

- Anne Swithinbank

DURING the past 30 years or so, a wilder and more exciting style of using herbaceous perennials in our gardens has come to the fore. These are long-lived but non-woody plants whose top growth dies back in autumn, but grows again from dormant crowns in spring.

For many years they were used to fill the grand herbaceous borders of larger gardens and then to plug gaps in the mixed borders of smaller modern plots. Now they are encouraged to mix and mingle with grasses in generous swathes of growth, with emphasis on a long season of interest.

The dead stems and seedheads are left in place until late winter when all is sheared back to make way for new growth. This peaceful and wildlife-friendly style looks magnificent on a large scale, but is easily tailored to suit small gardens and containers.

Modern prairie styles

Both the range of plants and the way they are used have been inspired by the study of natural grassland areas such as the North American prairies, the steppes of south-eastern Europe and Siberia, as well as the South African veldt. Plants are chosen to suit their environment, to enliven gardens with complementary shapes and colours, but also to live contentedly alongside each other. Not new, this idea is often said to have caught on when William Robinson published The Wild Garden in 1870.