Last month, I finally had the privilege to visit Suther prairie in Cabarrus county, North Carolina as part of a NC Botanical Garden field trip. I had been wanting to visit this site since learning about it a few years ago from Tompkins et al paper on the flora of the site. Until recently acquired by the state, this site has been held by the same family since the 1700s and not been plowed in all those years.

Following the success of Sarah P. Duke Gardens’ Piedmont Prairie in the Blomquist Garden, the horticulture staff is experimenting with “prairie pockets” in parking lot medians. The results look great so far!