It may be difficult to find some of these plants at typical garden centers or nurseries, but as the popularity of native plant landscaping has grown, nurseries that provide native plants have become easier to find. Many of these businesses now have web sites or are listed on web directories. The trees and shrubs in the images are shown at the sizes they will attain at about 15 years after establishment, if installed at the commonly available commercial sizes. Rates of growth vary by species. The season shown in the images is late summer in the upper Midwest.
Prairie gardens take approximately three seasons to become established.
During this time, the garden will need to be weeded diligently and may require some additional watering. Prairie gardens, once established, do not require watering or fertilizer applications as lawns do. Also, they are typically mowed only once per year. Because of this tremendous decrease in maintenance costs, prairie gardens are the most cost-effective landscaping treatment in the long term. The larger the percentage of lawn that is kept, the greater the long term maintenance cost.