The leaves of Cather's beloved cottonwood trees dance in the summer breeze and cast coin-shaped shadows on the walks. T he Cather Garden illustrates the use of prairie plants in an urban setting. It is impossible to recreate the prairie's vastness and sense of movement in a limited space. But here, amidst imposing buildings and concrete, native plants are a striking addition to the landscape. The same qualities that ensured these plants' survival on the wide-open plains are a blessing to the city gardener.
Native plants thrive in continuous sun and shrug off the wind that howls between the buildings.
Most grow well in the slightly heavy soils of eastern Nebraska. The native prairie was an immense expanse of grass dotted with flowering plants. In the Cather Garden, prairie plants are instead massed for more effective display of their blooms, a design more appropriate to the urban landscape. A stroll through the garden gives some idea of the many colors, forms and textures of prairie plants. F or hundred of years before the pioneers turned the prairie sod, native peoples had harvested the prairie plants for food, medicine and other domestic uses.