Meadows can be more high-maintenance than gardeners may realize, so keep that in mind when deciding what areas to convert and prioritize; you can always do the conversion in stages to see how it goes with a smaller area. Meadows are for full sun areas; in more shade, other plantings are more suited to the lower light level. (They can still be native species and still used to support wildlife, but won't have a meadow aesthetic, especially since stable meadow habitats are dominated by grasses, not wildflowers, and few grasses, native or otherwise, grow in shade.)

These resources may be helpful to explore before you get started, so you know what to expect:

• How to Make a Meadow
• Creating a Wild Backyard: Wildflower Meadows --MD DNR
• Mid-Atlantic Native Meadows -- Xerces Society

If you would like hired help, a Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional (CBLP) may be a good place to start, as they receive training in sustainable landscaping techniques, which can include meadow creation and management. Regular mowing is often used to discourage weed growth, both during the establishment phase and long-term to stop ecological succession from turning the meadow into shrubland and then forest, which is what open areas naturally do in our mid-Atlantic ecosystem. (Brambles and invasive shrubs are often among the first woody plants to colonize meadows, via seeds in bird or mammal droppings, and then vines and tree saplings join them.)

You have many choices for the mix of plants in the shadier area, but our Groundcovers page (which includes a few sample plant lists) can provide ideas, even if you opt to mix-in taller-growing perennials or shrubs. If you are open to visiting a public garden in northern Delaware for inspiration, Mt. Cuba Center has many wooded garden beds filled with understory native plants that occur in Maryland as well. (Many of them are spring-blooming, and will be wrapping-up their bloom period around now, but you can still observe how a mix of foliage shapes and textures can provide visual interest even when the plants are out of bloom.)

Landscape architects tend to have more training in the aspects of land grading, hardscaping, and layout design, and less focus on plant selection. Landscape designers will focus more on plant selection in addition to layout planning. Any of them can be a horticulturist, which doesn't have a set definition. (Someone could get a degree in horticulture, which likely focuses on nursery production techniques more so than home gardening plant care, or they can be certified as a Certified Professional Horticulturist by the Maryland Nursery Landscape and Greenhouse Association.) Extension doesn't maintain lists of either group of people, but the MNLGA may have a list of members on its website (they might be more nurseries and garden centers than landscape businesses), as might the Landscape Contractors Association for the DC/MD/VA area. Looking for a CBLP, though, might be the best starting point, since their focus is on sustainability, and that will involve using native plants in landscapes.

Miri