How to Grow an Urban Meadow (and Why You Should)
Urban meadows energize a space while providing valuable ecosystem services. They transform a site into a hub of diversity while allowing a natural connection in unexpected places. Garden expert Kathreine Rowe explores why these valuable landscapes matter and how to create them.
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Whether converting your whole yard, a small plot, a vacant lot, or that leftover strip between the sidewalk and curb, an urban meadow works across garden scales. The goal is to improve a site with the qualities of a natural meadow, both aesthetic and ecological, in the face of urban environmental constraints. The bigger the better for ecosystem services, but enriching even a postage stamp lot has great rewards.
Urban meadows are multi-faceted. By densely planting a diversity of species, they draw pollinators and other beneficial insects. Extensive roots help stormwater infiltration, soil nutrition, and control erosion. They also benefit people, bringing nature to our doorstep and to unexpected places.
Starting an urban meadow allows total creativity in design, but with nature at the helm. The landscapes incorporate a blend of sturdy perennials that grow across various soils and harsh conditions, including dry situations and exposure to pollutants. They bring easy care and low maintenance and don’t rely on extra resources to thrive. With high texture and colorful blooms, urban meadows bring all-season interest. They also offer the element of surprise as nature determines what performs best in a given spot, even within the site.
Why Create an Urban Meadow?
Meadows are open spaces home to mostly herbaceous plants like native grasses and wildflowers. Urban meadows are a combination of these site-adaptive plants that fulfill several roles. They beautify a space with a sea of contrasting textures, forms, and colors. From a summer in full bloom to a winter in dried plumes and seedheads, there is always something interesting happening.
These urban green spaces also improve soil structure, help absorb and filter stormwater, and store carbon. They expand biodiversity and support pollinators like native bees, along with other insects, for a well-rounded garden system and food web. Meadows also provide forage and shelter for songbirds and small mammals. They transform and energize the space.
Observe the Site
Observing site conditions includes sun exposure, soil conditions, and drainage. Noting these helps make the best plan to prep the site and for plant selections. Assess how sunlight moves through the space, noting any shadowed areas to account for sun or shade growing preferences. Walls and tree canopy can shadow areas as the sun moves throughout the day.
Plan to place perennials that tolerate high heat next to sunny, paved surfaces. Get a feel for soil texture to determine wet or dry zones. A soil test comes in handy, even when choosing durable perennials.
Sun Exposure
Most meadow perennials perform best in full sun, with six or more hours of sunlight daily. But numerous options also thrive in partial shade, needing about four or more hours of direct sun. Full-shade selections need less than two hours of sun.
South- or west-facing spots provide the best exposure for flowering plants, as they’re able to handle intense afternoon sun in open sites. East or north-facing situations receive less sun and are better for leafy, partial shade selections.
Soil
The plants for urban meadows are adaptable and able to grow across soil types. Many even perform better in lean soils. They often tolerate sand, clay, and disturbed sites.
The priority in soil is its drainage. The majority of meadow species grow best in well-draining soils. If your site is wet or boggy, opt for specific species that survive in these conditions, like cardinal flower, Joe Pye Weed, and swamp milkweed. If your site is mostly dry, drought-tolerant wildflowers make durable options, including aster, California poppy, and yarrow.
If the soil is especially poor or lacks certain elements, add a layer of compost or aged manure atop the site. Turn or rake the area lightly, about an inch deep, to mix in the amendment and avoid exposing underlying weed or grass seeds. Rake the soil to create a smooth surface so the wildflower seeds make the most surface contact at sowing.
Design Concept
In designing any landscape, even a naturalistic one, it helps to have a concept that drives decisions and a plan that executes them. For your urban meadow, hone in on a color scheme you like and that complements the home or larger space.
Measure the site and make a scaled drawing – however rough or precise – to determine layout and plant quantity. Play with placement in real time when you physically interact with the site, but a plan lays the groundwork. For an urban meadow, we also rely on nature to do the final arranging. Some plants will outperform the others depending on cultural conditions.
Color
Color is one of the most impactful ways to create an urban meadow’s mood and aesthetic. Color schemes include monochromatic (single-color shades), analogous (blended shades in the same color range), or complementary (opposite shades for contrast). Look to nature for inspiration or to your favorite hues for building the plant selection.
Bright, primary colors appear closer and may make a small area feel smaller. Soft shades recede and visually expand the space. Vibrant colors, like reds, oranges, and yellows, energize and activate a space. Pastels and whites are serene and calm. For multi-season appeal, include species with color at varying times of year and with extended bloom seasons.
Repetition
Meadows typically involve repeated species, and lots of them. In our urban meadow, repeating plants or their characteristics is one of the easiest ways to create unity in the landscape. It helps achieve abundance without becoming muddled.
Repetition occurs through form, texture, and color. Repeat some of the same plants, and opt for those with similar colors or foliage textures. Variety becomes cohesive through overlapping form, texture, or color.
The meadow doesn’t have to be too particular about order, but numbers of the same plant and overarching attributes bulk up the arrangement. Choose those with similar heights, too, so none get lost in the shuffle. If you employ taller selections, keep those toward the back of the show or in a mass rather than staggering them throughout.
Plant Selection
Natural meadows brim with diversity. A single meadow might hold over 200 plant species. In our urban versions, we can reduce the scope based on scale and performance. Opt for natives to your ecoregion and local area for best growth and ease of care, and to ensure they don’t displace surrounding plant communities. Natives are adapted to an area’s soil and climate conditions, as well as the needs of local insect and animal species.
Incorporate multiple species to increase diversity and chances for success. You’ll observe which species shine and which aren’t as strong in the specific site. The top performers will take the place of those who fall behind, especially if they naturally reseed, an advantage in this ecotypic garden.
Concentrate on blooming perennials and native ornamental grasses for movement and contrasting texture. The landscapes in nature are heavy on grasses, and the cityscape should be, too. In addition to their nearly year-round appeal (lovely as dried specimens in winter), grasses offer seeds and shelter for wildlife.
Choose whether you’ll use nursery starts, landscape plugs, seeds, or a combination to cover the new meadow. Direct sowing seeds is the easiest, waiting to see what pops up and thrives. Plugs are small starts and handy to get a jumpstart on growth, while still a lesser investment than nursery-potted options. Their small size makes them easy to install. With plugs and nursery pots, more consideration goes into plant placement and pairings for composition and adequate spacing.
Prepare the Site
Site preparation is likely the most labor-intensive part of the life of the meadow. For self-sustaining success, clear the existing vegetation and amend the soil, if needed.
Remove Existing Vegetation
Emerging seedlings and young plants have a better chance of survival without competition from already-established vegetation, including quick-growing weeds and turf. Depending on the amount of existing growth and your scale, there are a few ways to clear the area.
Dig
The first method of vegetation removal is to dig or hand-pull plants on the site, which works best for small areas.
If the area is turf, slice the grass into manageable rectangles with a spade. Then, dig and lift the pieces. Rent a sod cutter for larger areas of thick turf (often available from local equipment and hardware stores).
Layer
A paper-and-soil layering technique is an option if you have time. It can take up to several months to be effective. Place overlapping sheets of newspaper (six pieces thick) or cardboard on top of the earth to smother what lies beneath. Cover the entire area and top the sheets with several inches of soil or compost.
Clear plastic sheeting is a similar process. Layer the site with clear plastic anchored with sod staples or stakes. The plastic harnesses the sun’s rays and converts them to heat, which “cooks” the ground beneath the plastic. Sustained heat kills the vegetation and dormant weed seeds. Leave the plastic in place for at least several weeks and up to a few months, depending on the thickness of the vegetation
Solarize
Solarizing uses black plastic in the same process as clear plastic, but has a different relationship with the sun. The black plastic serves to starve the plants of sunlight, preventing photosynthesis and the energy needed to grow. Solarizing, too, takes several weeks and may only partially make underlying seeds inviable.
Amend the Soil
Many areas won’t need soil amendments for wildflowers and grasses since they do well in those that lack organic richness. If the soil is especially poor, lacks certain elements, or is hard to dig, add a layer of compost or aged manure. Turn or rake the area lightly, about an inch deep, to mix in the amendment and avoid exposing underlying weed or grass seeds. Rake the soil smooth before planting.
Getting Established
After sowing and transplanting, the new plantings benefit from regular water as they establish. Seeds need daily water until germination for consistently moist soils. After that, cut back to every other day.
The meadow will need regular water in its first growing season to get established, especially in hot, dry summers. Once they develop their sturdy root systems, they become resilient to seasonal fluctuations.
Maintenance
Overall, the urban meadow is low maintenance. If it gets weedy in the first season, it’s because weeds emerge and grow faster than flower seedlings can keep up. Cut back the weedy sections to four to six inches tall to dwarf the weeds while the wildflowers continue to develop.
They generally suppress weeds in future seasons, but they still pop up. Leave the plants standing at season’s end for winter interest, added insulation, and pollinator overwintering. In late winter, mow the entire site to six to eight inches high to make way for spring’s new growth. Divide vigorous perennials over time to expand the collection, and weed out unwanted volunteers.
