Porch Prairies

By Eric Manges

How gardening on my porch fostered a passion for native plants

I’m not a botanist or horticulturist. I’m a meteorologist by training, so you might think: Why the heck should I listen to this guy when it comes to plants?

Well…plants are their own little weather stations. They can tell you the time of year, whether we’re in a drought, and even if it’s time to give up on Minnesota pro sports. Thirty years of pain still haven’t taught me that.

Join Eric Wednesday, June 25 in Madison from 6:30-8 p.m. as he leads a Porch Prairie workshop at the WYSO Center for Music, 1118 E. Washington Avenue. Register now

Follow him on Facebook: @Eric Manges Nature

Eric Manges, inset, and the porch prairie he grew in 2021

Down a rabbit hole

My porch prairie story really began almost 20 years ago when I was growing up in Rochester, Minn. We had a low quality limestone prairie in our backyard in what we’d consider the Minnesota Driftless Area. The neighborhood was an old farm so whatever seed they scattered or left held on since the 1970s. There was a 5-acre area behind my home we called the ‘Back 5’ that had Indian Grass, some Compass Plant, Rough Blazing Star, Sumac, but most importantly BUCKTHORN. Buckthorn had taken over the ravines of the property. The hills were just too dry and only prairie species and juniper could hold on.

If I lived there today I would see the Back 5 as a paradise with endless potential. But as a middle schooler I thought it was underwhelming. It was around that time in 2006 when Planet Earth aired on the Discovery Channel and I became obsessed with one episode about Coastal Redwoods. I couldn’t believe trees could actually grow that tall and live that long. I wanted them in Rochester, Minn., in my backyard too!

Sadly, limestone prairie isn’t exactly the best place for a 300 foot tall California Redwood. I planted the next best thing! Twelve Dawn Redwoods, a species native to Asia in the redwood family! And even after watering the daylights out of them they all dried out. I frantically searched the web to learn when it would rain and it got me down a rabbit hole that led me to googling every weather term I could. Thus my passion for meteorology was born. But also my mistrust of non-native plants even though I now understand why my Dawn Redwoods died in part—because the Midwest is one of the wildest places in the world when it comes to weather. Why did I expect 12 bareroot Dawn Redwoods to survive??

Twin passions take root

I held onto those twin passions through high school. After graduating college from Iowa State with a degree in Meteorology I got my first gig in Tyler, Texas. The Piney Woods! Three inches of rain, softball-sized hail, and massive Short Leaf Pines were quite normal around there. It’s got more in common with Louisiana than Dallas. A tree lover and weather nerd paradise. But it was far from home. My then girlfriend (now wife) had a job in Dallas and we both wanted to be back in the Midwest. Milwaukee came a calling and we moved here in 2019.

Our one-bedroom apartment in Wauwatosa had no yard but one heck of a small patio. That fall I didn’t do anything with it, just a bird feeder. But the following year I knew I had to get creative. I started with a simple goal: “I don’t want a stupid tulip that only lasts a week.” That was the summer of 2020.

My patio got morning sun at best. I wanted tough plants I wouldn’t have to water much. I figured, I’m a meteorologist—this’ll be easy! WRONG.

After a quick trip to a local garden center (which had a whopping five native species), I made my selection:

• 1 Wild Columbine (already done flowering)

• 1 Purple Coneflower (didn’t flower)

• 1 Great Blue Lobelia (forgot about it until it bloomed in late summer)

• 1 Tall Blue Bellflower (biennial, so no flowers that year)

My wife picked out a sad, non-native Foxglove for the corner (it needed constant watering), so I felt pretty good about my little, low-maintenance native garden… with no flowers.

Little did I know, it was a good thing I chose plants that were either done blooming or wouldn’t bloom in year one. It sent me down ANOTHER rabbit hole—just how many native plants are out there? And more importantly: Where the heck do I get them?

That fall, I donated my plants to a local Nature Education Center. Those plants replaced a patch of mostly invasive buckthorn—my personal nemesis from my childhood.

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Research yields results

So, research began for 2021… I read through every native plant guide I could find and scrolled through all kinds of websites like Prairie Moon Nursery to get ideas.

I went big. Gave Columbine another try—this time before it flowered. Got some Butterflyweed, Cardinal Flower, more Great Blue Lobelia, Blazing Star, a little Beech Tree, and—most importantly—Anise Hyssop.

Why was that one the most important? It started off completely unimpressive—like my career. A tiny little flower, the last one left at a pop-up hoop house. I figured, why not? That little flower kept getting longer and longer. Before long, it was an inflorescence (fancy word for flower) over six inches long—with bees all over it. Not just one, but dozens of long lavender flower spikes attracting all kinds of bees and pollinating flies from late July into October.

That’s when I really got it: native plants aren’t just cool because of how they look. It’s the role they play in supporting the insects that evolved with them. Me—a meteorologist on the second floor of an apartment building—had all kinds of cool insects enjoying my patio.

Backyard of my Bay View home in July 2024

From porch prairie to native plant showcase

Fast forward to today: my wife and I finally bought a home in the Bay View neighborhood of Milwaukee. I’ve crammed over 250 native species into our little lot. And have been sharing on my Facebook page, Eric Manges Nature, every step of the way.

The grandkids of that original hyssop still grow in my yard today from seeds I collected. It’s not a large yard, but I’ve used that same porch prairie logic to make the most of it. Sure, I have larger numbers of my favorite plants now, but I also try to ensure floral resources are available throughout the growing season for pollinators and birds. From late March to October, there’s always something blooming giving objective function to the ecosystem a long with the subjective human bias of what we consider beautiful.

Back to porch and patio prairies—what’s possible, and why you’re here. Anything is possible if you pay attention. Take Butterflyweed, for example. I kept one in a little clay pot. It hated it—but I made sure it didn’t get too dry. The leaves will tell you when they need water (again, little weather stations!). Overwatering is the easy mistake. As long as the soil drains well, just about anything can survive in a small to medium container for a year. Don’t water unless the plant starts to wilt or we’re in a drought.

In the fall, I highly recommend finding a more permanent home for the plants in your pots—somewhere their roots can really spread. If that’s not possible, keeping the soil moist through the winter is key. You don’t want roots to dry out. Native plants are hardy, but on a dry January day with highs in the single digits, a small pot left outside doesn’t offer much insulation. Keeping the containers in a garage or protected area is ideal, just don’t let them dry out!

You don’t have to stop with prairie plants.

To quote my friend Mike Yanny, who led propagation at Johnson’s Nursery for decades:

“You don’t know a plant until you grow it.”

So on that same patio, I grew some White Oaks—a keystone species in the region. I planted them way too close together and I don’t think they made it after I moved them to a forest edge.

But to quote Mike again:

“You can tell how good someone is at propagating by how big their throwaway pile is.”

Not all plants will survive. But in the process, you’ll learn a lot—and nature is better for it.

White Oak seedlings I started in fall 2022

Where to get native plants for your porch prairie

If you’ve read this far and are just getting into native plants, you’re probably wondering: Where do I get them? Well… Google exists. But if you want direction:

1. Start with SOS Save Our Songbirds’ native plant webpage. You can get ideas for upcoming plant sales benefiting nature centers and other non-profit organizations, and a link to Wisconsin DNR’s native plant nursery directory.

2. If you’re in Wisconsin or Minnesota, check out Prairie Moon Nursery, Prairie Nursery, and Johnson’s Nursery websites. They’re full of plant options and helpful resources.

3. If you’re in Madison or willing to drive a bit, join me Wednesday, June 25 from 6:30-8 p.m. in Madison for a container gardening workshop. You’ll get to make and take home your own Porch Prairie in this event at the WYSO Center for Music, 1118 E. Washington Ave. Registration required.

4. Outside the Great Lakes region? Most states have a native plant society or Facebook groups that can help you get started.

Best of luck!