Prairie garden - in pictures

Kirsty Grocott decided to emulate plantsman and designer Piet Oudolf when creating a new garden, composed entirely of herbaceous perennials such as the echinacea and perovskia pictured here, and many grasses. This border is typical of the style, featuring the grass Stipa gigantea (top right), Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Blue Spire' (middle), fennel (top left), sedum (front middle) and foxglove seedheads (middle left).
Photograph: Jonathan Buckley for the Guardian

Grocott's Shropshire garden is about an acre, surrounded by fields, with a few ancient apple trees upon which she anchored the design.
Photograph: Jonathan Buckley for the Guardian

This view of the garden looks towards the house, with a circular cobbled area. The grass is the foreground is Stipa gigantea; beyond is a clump of the pale thistles of Eryngium giganteum 'Miss Willmott's Ghost'.
Photograph: Jonathan Buckley for the Guardian

A prairie garden provides months of interest and a constantly changing palette, as well as providing food for pollinators, like this Verbena bonariensis.
Photograph: Jonathan Buckley for the Guardian

Rather than dotting plants about, prairie gardens group masses of plants in drifts, creating contrasts of height, texture and form. North American native Echinacea purpurea is a popular choice. Photograph: Jonathan Buckley/Photograph Jonathan Buckley

Eryngium giganteum 'Miss Willmott's Ghost' with the grass Stipa tenuissima behind.
Photograph: Jonathan Buckley for the Guardian

The garden's sweeping curves of Breedon gravel serve as a cycle track for Grocott's daughter.
Photograph: Jonathan Buckley for the Guardian

Despite her careful planning, Grocott allows Macedonian scabious (Knautia macedonica) (above) and Turkish sage (Phlomis russeliana) to self-seed around the garden, creating a planting plan of its own.
Photograph: Jonathan Buckley for the Guardian

Cow parsley has also made its way into the garden, but it is allowed to stay among the grasses (pictured here with Stipa gigantea).
Photograph: Jonathan Buckley for the Guardian