The Gardens of NoCo: Chan Mahanta

Chan Mahanta's colorful prairie garden is a gem of the Old Jamestown area.

“In wildness is the preservation of the world,” wrote Henry David Thoreau, and I’m pretty sure Chan Mahanta agrees. This talented local gardener has created a wondrously wild native prairie in his front yard, which NOCO’s newest contributor, JoAnn Batzer, recently had a chance to visit. Here’s what she learned…

Chan Mahanta doesn’t flinch about a tour bus dropping off more than 40 botanical garden professionals in his driveway. Visiting groups from the Perennial Plant Association or even famed garden writer and designer Noel Kingsbury don’t worry him either.

Chan can stand his own ground (literally!) with elite horticultural visitors from all over the globe, mostly because he has worked incredibly hard on his Old Jamestown property and it shows. The 1.5-acre prairie in his front yard was awarded the top prize for an amateur in the 2004 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Great Garden Contest, serving as an exquisite example of native plant use in a residential environment.

Chan Mahanta

An architect by trade, Chan designed his impressive home overlooking the Missouri River in 1997, moving there with his wife, Banti, from Creve Coeur. Originally from India, he was fascinated at an early age by the American landscape, often thumbing through comic books featuring Native Americans, cowboys and bison herds that roamed the early prairie.

During college he also saw The Vanishing Prairie, a 1954 Disney nature documentary, and it became etched in his memory. But it wasn’t until moving from California to St. Louis (and ultimately North County) that Chan realized he could finally fulfill his dream of creating his own native prairie. In 1999, he started his current garden entirely by seed.

Looking back, he admits he should have prepared the site better, as a few areas had to be reseeded twice. But by three years in, the prairie gradually became established, and today it’s a showpiece with more than 60 varieties of wildflowers, warm season grasses and native plants.

June and July are peak bloom times, but prairie gardens hold year round interest. In winter, the dry grasses and seed heads are not only aesthetic, but provide wildlife food and habitat, proving that the prairie isn’t just a ‘garden’ but an entire ecosystem.

Coneflowers (Echinacea spp.), black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta.) and blue false indigo (Baptisia australis) provide stunning color during the summer, while grasses like big bluestem (Andropogon gerardi), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) and Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans) offer subtle texture and color in the winter.

A huge plus to the garden is the low maintenance. Now that the prairie is established, Chan only puts in 4-6 hours a month of upkeep. No irrigation, fertilizing or weekly mowing is needed! Just battling the ever encroaching honeysuckle and other non-native weeds is his main duty at this point.

Once a year in mid to late February, he brush-hogs the vegetation down to the ground, gets a burn permit from the local fire district and then carefully burns the remnants. The prairie doesn’t need to be burnt every year, but Chan prefers to do it to keep the woody weeds in check and deny the voles and mice shelter all winter. In the spring, the area quickly rejuvenates and provides shelter and color once again.

Chan’s garden also hosts a wildlife-friendly pond and waterfall feature along with a vegetable garden. The wooded back of the property provides a natural contrast between the sunny prairie in front, while two deck areas offer private, shady spots to watch the river either from the bluff or at the water’s edge.

Active in the Old Jamestown Association, Chan would love to see more native plants and prairie plantings in the area. Always willing to share his experience, he has already assisted neighbors in establishing prairie gardens nearby, and his newest endeavor is beekeeping – another important aspect of the prairie ecosystem.

Chan’s bees are fortunate to have such a beautiful and diverse prairie home. And of course, NoCo is lucky to have a resident as creative, dedicated and talented as Chan Mahanta! Not only did Chan build his beautiful, sustainable garden from scratch, but he also provided all of the gorgeous photos for this story…

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Jo Batzer has lived in North County most of her life and is excited to be a part of the NOCO team. She has worked in the horticulture and florist industries for over 25 years and is the garden leader at Twillman House Community Garden. Jo lives and gardens in the Spanish Lake area with her husband, two sons and two dogs.

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