this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2023
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The one on the right is not a common prairie ecosystem, but something that someone's created that supports native plants. There's a difference. The picture I link above is tall grass prairie, a tragically endangered ecosystem in Canada and the upper states. The one in the meme is a essentially a big garden.
Both have value! but one has evolved over time, while the other was recently created. The tallgrass prairie is fantastic for creating fertile soils, and sustaining gargantuan herds of bison (๐ญ) but the one on the right blows it out of the water for pollinator habitat.
We have a chunk of our yard (about 30x60') dedicated to tall prairie grass! I planted it a few years ago not thinking about how prairies aren't terribly wildflower-dense.
It was disappointing at first for not being so vibrant, but it's where our dragonflies like to chill so now it's the area I'll protect first. I've even considered watering it a few times when it was very dry, despite drought resistance being part of the point.
With climate changing driving the Eco-acpocolypse and us likely to reside in an ecological hellscape, I'm sure the grasses thank you.