The Beauty and Benefits of Garden Meadows
A Journey Through History, Ecology, and Modern Design
Prepared by Julian Sunter
Introduction
Meadows are one of the fastest-growing garden systems in the world of landscaping. Popular across Europe, North America and Australia, we are at the forefront of the movement towards a more natural style of gardening.
The 1970s in Australia saw a strong theme of ‘the return of the native’ into our gardening mindset: using shrubs such as callistemons, hakeas and melaleuca to recreate bushland environments in urban gardens. With an increasing awareness of the need for fire safety in and around our homes, grasses and flowering perennials have now taken pride of place as a new movement has developed into an accessible trend in home landscaping design.
A History of Grassland Gardening
Humans are well adapted to living in grassland environments: the savannahs of Africa, the grassland and plains of Australia and Europe and the prairies of North America have all become part of our cultural fabric. They have been environments where humans can effectively create a niche for survival and development. Moving from nomadic hunter-gathering practices to regular grazing and grain-cultivating societies, we were able to spend more time on cultural and technological development than previously. Of course, as with all species, there is enormous variety in the way humans have developed across the globe, but grassland meadows have been one of the intrinsic areas we have chosen to cultivate. As we have changed, so the environments we have inhabited have changed with us.
Muir's Wilderness and the Philosophy of Wild Landscapes
In America, a key forefather of the love of nature is John Muir. He is responsible for the prevalence and integrity of the National Parks movement, which has been carried on in his name to encourage the importance of preservation. With the preservation of wild spaces, comes the opportunity to develop an appreciation of all the natural elements comprising these systems. If you haven’t read Muir’s notes about the beauty and majesty of nature as composed by the Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks, they are well worth seeking out. A Scottish-born American, Muir was inspired by poets from both countries, and it is reasonable to suggest he influenced the enduring love of this part of the country through authors like John Steinbeck and Jack Kerouac. He would preach the value and beauty of a collection of plants as a community and a plant in its natural place being at home. In this way, he helped shape the view that living together in our environment was good for the soul.
Karl Foerster's Passion for Plants and Naturalistic Gardening
Another great contributor to our understanding of the value of grassland plants was Karl Foerster. A German nurseryman and plant collector, many of the modern varieties of European and international grassland plants have been popularised by Karl Foerster’s influence. His philosophy of ‘the right plant for the right place’ led to him building display gardens at his nursery that would inspire a generation of garden designers; they included flowering plants, grasses, ground-covering perennials and bulbous & woody plants. In addition to showcasing the beauty of flowers, Foerster gave us a way to keep the amount of care required as low as possible; by appreciating the seasonal variation of foliage texture and colour as well as seed heads, we can introduce some very important aesthetic components to the garden. He aimed to offer gardens that radiate beauty and harmony in all seasons. Grasses were a key component in these designs.
Piet Oudolf was another revolutionary in the world of garden design. From the Netherlands to royal gardens in the UK and public commissions all around the world, he was able to completely transform modern thinking about grassland gardening. He looked at gardens as living systems and pondered how they affected the cities we live in. But more than that, he looked at their connection to our emotions. As discussed earlier, if we have a long cultural attachment to a landscape, it can feel like it has an almost intrinsic pull on our heartstrings. Piet Oudolf sought this sense of ‘compelling emotional resonance’ whereby we feel drawn into, and at home within, the landscape he created. He looked to intermingle and blend plants, without overcrowding. If you ever get to look through some of his landscape designs for large international public spaces, they are fascinating documents… like beautiful artworks made by an incredibly scientific child’s imagination. Oudolf always asked what species made good neighbours, and how they would interact with each other underground, as well as above the surface.
Piet Oudolf and the Prairie as Public Space
Oudolf’s comment that a view through a window has been shown to have a beneficial effect on the human psyche, is truly one of the most telling reasons why we love to create our own natural garden spaces. They make us feel good, entice us, and sometimes surprise and delight us, but even by merely seeing, or walking through a garden, it can keep us connected to the larger natural world of which we are always part.
The Victorian Volcanic Plains and Grasslands as Biodiversity Havens
In South Eastern Australia, as well as many other areas in each state, natural grassland ecosystems are prevalent. With Indigenous firestick farming and native grain harvesting practices being incredibly advanced before European arrival on this continent, we have a long association with grasslands. The Victoria Volcanic Plains, of which Ballarat sits at the Eastern edge, is an internationally recognised biome, with heritage protections aiming to protect its value for future generations. The amount of wildflowers and grassland species in our backyard, or local park, can be quite surprising! Roads and reserves have also maintained isolated pockets of these indigenous gardens containing a wonderful diversity of not just flora, but fauna species who rely upon this bio-region. Blue Devils, Chocolate Lilies and Yam Daisies all come into this realm, but it has been fascinating to witness the growing love of grasses, such as Kangaroo Grass, over the last few decades, for their colour, shape and resilience in modern gardens.
Sustainable Virtues of Grasslands & Practical Benefits of the Meadow
Being constantly exposed to sunlight, meadows are perfectly adapted to react to climate change. Many grassland plants can lose much of their foliage to heat stress, and yet return full force once water becomes available again. They are also able to cope without much fertilising. When cutting back grassland plants, much of the material can be easily mulched. A great deal of insects depend upon flowering plants and grasses for survival and hence attract invertebrates like skinks as well as birds. Many grasses also provide seed forage and protection for small birds.
Rain gardens and green roofs have also relied heavily on meadow species, for two main reasons: they cope well with seasonal inundation, then return to dry, and secondly, they are well suited for biofiltration, or the removal of harmful chemicals from stormwater runoff. Replacing lawns with areas of grassland can reduce mowing significantly, attract wildlife, provide a more adaptable garden, as well as contribute some nature back to the concrete jungle. As John Muir said of his walks in ‘The Wild Gardens of Yosemite Park’, it is “A marvellous abundance of bloom, enlivened by hummingbirds, butterflies and a host of insects as beautiful as flowers.”
Aesthetic Uses of Wildflowers and Grasses
Tall grasses swaying in the breeze have often been an icon in Japanese woodblock prints. The idea of the poetry of movement, or the beauty of a simple vista, is a key theme in their artistic rations, such as the haiku poem which traditionally references the change of the seasons as evidenced by a moment in nature. Due to the scale of plants which are generally used to comprise meadow gardens, we can achieve many aesthetic effects in a small space; the play of light and shade, seed heads that catch the morning or evening sun like a lighthouse beacon, the charm of a plant appearing almost unannounced as you walk through the space and turn a corner. The wildness of natural meadows’ heritage has allowed designers to use meandering paths, and undulating slopes, and to work around hard surfaces with soft spreading plants, and altogether evoke the wild feeling.
Modern Garden Design and Urban Grassland Restoration
Recently, design firms like STEM Landscape Architects have played a significant role in reintroducing nature to cities in Australia. AT their ‘Through the Looking Glass’ garden at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show in 2024, STEM collaborated on a garden that brought together the best of the rural charm with urban sophistication. The sound of frogs croaking, and the almost sub-audible singing of grasslands, alive with insects and rustling in the breeze, completely converted the mindset of those visitors to the Carlton Gardens amid an onrushing city. Many suburban councils are choosing to actively use grassland lands to restore urban environments, for some of the previous reasons mentioned above, with a gentle nod to environmental restoration. This can seem like such an overwhelming concept until we bring it right back to our own yard or nature strip. And when we have the option to so easily choose either a curated wildness or an ordered matrix of plants, there is a solution for every space.
The Mental and Functional Benefits of Grassland Plant Communities
Whilst there are many benefits of the meadow: cooling city spaces, filtering pollutants, reducing harmful garden inputs and outputs, creating biodiversity and building our connection to nature, it is the psychological improvements to well-being that seem to be driving a growing love for grasslands. Stress reduction, a sense of well-being and being grounded in your own space are all available to those willing to spend time outdoors in the meadow. They can be scaled up from a tiny courtyard to a hillside with very similar design intent. The Scape Artist has a passion for sustainability and the design process. With a little love and a keen design eye, wild-inspired garden meadows could spring to life in your very own space.