Wildflower Meadows - The Importance of Grasses

A Natural Wildflower "Meadow" - Apalachicola National Forest

I grew up in the prairie Midwest and was fortunate to have been caught up in the prairie restoration movement that blazed brightly in the last few decades of this past century. Very little of our original prairie ecosystems remain as the rich prairie soils were quickly converted to agricultural uses as European settlers swarmed their way over the continent.  These ecosystems are extremely diverse, regardless of where they occur. From the tall-grass prairies of the Midwest to the rockland prairies of the Mid-South and the true dry prairie systems here in Florida where I now reside, there are several universal characteristics - they are some of the most species diverse systems in the world and they are dominated by grasses.
Grasses, in all their many shapes and forms, are what form the foundation of any "meadow." That must also be true for all the "wildflower meadows" I see extolled on social media platforms. The zeal to create "pollinator gardens" seems to have reached a fever pitch on a number of well-populated sites that I monitor and participate in from time to time.  From my vantage point, it would seem that most equate the terms "wildflower meadow" and "pollinator garden" with flowers - especially native flowering plants.  It is understandable in a way that we would ignore the contribution of those species that are pollinated by wind, but it is wrong. An assemblage of "flowers" does not make a meadow nor does it really make it a pollinator garden. You need the other half of the equation - grasses.

There are a great many reasons for grasses to be incorporated into a native-plant landscape designed as a meadow and for the benefit of pollinators. Grasses provide the structure necessary to hold the planting area together. They help support the flowering stems of many wildflowers that might otherwise bend over to the ground and they help to cover the ground surface and make it more difficult for weeds to establish themselves. In the winter months when most wildflowers are dormant, they provide essential structure to the overall planting area. What would otherwise be bare soil - or snow, depending on where you live, is an aesthetically interesting suite of grass blades and stems in varying shades of brown. But, it is not simply the aesthetics that need to be considered, but the habitat value it provides. There is precious little habitat value to most vertebrates in wildflowers. Grasses are different.  In summer, they allow a wide range of species the hiding cover they need. In winter, this is magnified.
Even many invertebrates use the cover of grasses differently than they might with flowers. Again, this is especially true in winter. Some species of small bees overwinter in the stalks of dried grasses and/or wildflowers. Others seek refuge beneath the clumps of dried grass blades. This type of habitat does not exist in a patch of dormant flowers.
What also seems ignored by many who have embraced the pollinator garden movement is that a great many butterfly species use native grasses as their host plants. While we diligently plant milkweeds for monarchs (and I do this also) and possibly other flowering plants for other butterflies, we do wrong to not include the grasses required by the large family of grass skippers. Though not as magnificent perhaps as a monarch, these energetic pollinators are worthy of our consideration as well.
Native grasses also feed some songbirds in the late fall and early winter. Grass seed is high in nutrition and certain songbirds specialize in feeding on them once they are ripe and available. No surprise - as humans, our civilization has been shaped largely by our reliance on the grains (grass seeds) we've adopted as our major food sources.
Not every native grass plays well in a meadow setting. Avoid the ones that spread by underground rhizomes and select the so-called bunch grasses that tend to stay put in the place where they are planted. Be leery of the excessively large species as they can out-compete the flowers you'll also wish to add. Here in Florida, Fakahatchee grass (Tripsacum dactyloides) is one such grass that may become too large in a typical mixed meadow setting. Fakahatchee grass has many wonderful uses - it serves as a host plant to several skipper butterflies and its large seeds are important bird food, but it is overwhelmingly large for most mixed plantings. Use it elsewhere in the landscape.  The best native grasses for a mixed wildflower meadow are those that remain in clumps that are neither excessively wide or tall. Do some research for your area and add the best that suit your needs.
DO NOT simply allow weedy grasses to overtake your plantings, native or not, in the belief that this is a beneficial approach. It won't be. Letting an area become fallow, especially in disturbed suburban areas, is a recipe for disaster. At best, it will be better than the original lawn, but it will never reach the potential it is capable of.
I've been carefully adding native grass species to my wildflower planting in the front yard. There still are species I need to purchase and a few I'm currently growing in my wildflower nursery. I find it best to site my wildflowers and then fit the grasses in the blank portions of my canvas, but however you choose to proceed I urge you to add grasses.