Taylor Street Farms Prairie Ecosystem
A prairie is a well-balanced community of wildflowers, grasses, insects and other animals. This is a habitat that is conspicuous by its lack of trees. Everything that lives in a prairie must be adapted to harsh conditions such as extremely cold winters and hot summers with drying winds. The Chicago region was once 90% tall-grass prairie. Today, most prairies are gone, but remnants of the prairie community can still be found along right-of-ways, in suburban forest preserves, and in small conservation areas like Taylor Street Farms.
Our gardening community thanks former TSF Member Alex Palmer for bringing this wonderful project to life.
Fun Fact:
‘Prairie’ is the French word for ‘meadow’. Since there are no prairies in France, the French explorers had other words to describe this habitat when they first arrived to North America.
Prairie Roots Grow Deep
The deep roots of prairie plants, some of which can exceed 12 feet below the ground, hold the soil in place preventing erosion. Prairies can also reduce flooding and water pollution by soaking up excess rainfall, and they provide habitat for countless beneficial insects such as pollinators. Some of the flowers and grasses that can be seen at the Taylor Street Prairie include Purple Coneflower, Prairie Dropseed, various kinds of Milkweed, Rough Blazing Star and several others. Most prairie flowers bloom in mid to late summer, but some will blossom with color as early as May and as late as November. As fall sets in, the grasses dry to a golden color that adds year-round beauty.
When water needs plants…
After it rains in a city, where does the water go?In urban areas like Chicago, fallen rain quickly rushes into nearby lakes and streams – and sometimes into homeowner’s basements – as hard surfaces like asphalt and concrete do not absorb water. One solution to address urban flooding is to set aside small places as natural areas with native plants.Maintaining prairies and naturalized spaces in urban areas can purify our water by soaking up urban rainfall, or stormwater, and dense matts of wild-growing plants will even filter out many types of pollutants! This helps to improve water quality in nearby waterways such as Lake Michigan, our source of drinking water.
Learn more about native prairie plants by visiting the Illinois Wildflowers website.
You can also learn more about Chicago’s native plants by downloading free field guides from The Field Museum.