Savanna Designs

Beyond the Vernacular and into the Ecological

This is a new kind of garden; taking its cues from both our native prairie and the English cottage garden.

Native plants and other materials indigenous to the Midwest were utilized in a traditional farmstead context. They begin to define what might be a new and more appropriate Midwestern landscape aesthetic. One of our goals was to create a low input, sustainable landscape that does not require irrigation, fertilizer, pesticides or herbicides. We minimized the lawn areas, seeded the “backyard” in short grass prairie and developed “prairie gardens” in the bed around the house and rear deck.