Agrarian retreat is a 7 acre site in Stillwater Minnesota that was recently restored from farmland to prairie.

The landscape is designed to thoughtfully blend the modern home into the natural landscape by surrounding the home in a prairie inspired gravel garden. The gravel garden is a technique where grasses and perennials are planted into a 6” bed of gravel with native soil below.

The gravel creates an arid zone around the base of each plant allowing air and water to circulate to the soil below, but prevents unwanted seedlings from germinating at the surface.

Deep-rooted grasses and perennials like Prairie Dropseed, Echinacea, Salvia, and Autumn Moore Grass quickly take root into the soil below. Once established, the garden is drought tolerant and resistant to weeds. A seasonal clearing of fallen plant material each spring ensures that the gravel does not establish enough organic material for unwanted seedlings to take root.