If I follow your plan, you need grass plants to mix with the year-old forbs that you will plant next spring. If so, probably the best bet would be to winter seed your selected grasses in flats, then plug them in next spring or early summer. They will be small, but I think you can expect a high success rate.

It sounds like your soil preparation has been thorough. I think you should be careful about additional earth-turning and compost applications from now on. You might end up adding (or unearthing) more weed seeds. Just let the area settle in, let the compost decompose, and whack your perennial weeds when they appear next year.

Depending on how many grass and forb plugs you have, you might want to over-seed your planting area (with both grass and forb seeds) next fall/winter to fill in around your plugs.

Thanks so much John. Yes, I've cut off adding any more plant material to the area. I'm just going to let it finish decomposing through the winter and not disturb the soil again.

One more question, how much of each of the grass seed should I buy? I didn't quite understand some of the websites info on coverage.

Does a half-pound of little bluestem and a couple of ounces of the others sound right?

Thanks,

The websites that list by the punnd for seed are referring to the amount you need if you are direct seeding in the ground. You will need far less if you are germinating seedlings and growing plugs.

Bottlebrush grass is not suitable for a full sun prairie. It is a woodkland grass. I don't know what other grasses are native to your area but shorter grasses suitable for a prairie include side oats gramma, switch grass, virginia rye and Canada Wild Rye.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1158964}}

Thanks Judy. I'll probably try the side oats gramma instead. The others are native here too but the side oats has an interesting seed head. There's something that springs up in my perennial border that I'm pretty sure is Canada Wild Rye so I'll probably have some of that without even trying.

Virginia wild rye has a 'cuter' seedhead than does CWR. i would mix the two. frankly i dont really know if VWR has anything to do with Virginia but...

indian grass can be a nice addition. maybe a plug or 5 would be a nice addition. it doesnt get too tall that u cannot stand it.

prairie brome is a handsome plant. it grows well from seed. its short and cute in a fluffy,furry sort of way.

im fond of LBS and prairie drop seed. i could roll around in those two all day and night.

another neat grass is porcupine grass but read up on it before u plant it or ull take ur eye out.

switchgrass is a hadsome plant also. but if u dont like the aggressive nature of it, there is a horticulture variety called 'Shenandoah' its a smallish non-fertile type that has a bright red fall color.

froggy

Here is a link that might be useful: prairie brome