Romantic or Realist - Establishing A Wildflower Lawn or Meadow

Top 3. Apr 19, 2003 11:25 AM

» Georgene A. Bramlage - Re: Wild flowers meadow

In response to message posted by Gay_Klok:

Gay,

Thanks for stopping by and letting us know how those of you down under deal with wildflower meadows and such. I forget that you run a great wildfire risk where you live and garden.

Two thoughts occured to me after reading your message...first of all I rarely advocate planting grasses with a wildflower mix because plenty of grass seed will blow in as you can see from the picture of gaillardia (Gaillardia) and coneflower (Echinacea);

Secondly, here in New England there is very seldom a danger of wildfire in residential areas. About the only time residents are told to get rid of their wildflower lawns / meadows is if the local town has an ordinance against them because of messiness when the plants are in seed.

In Part 2 of this article, I'll be showing that there are wildflower farms which sell seed and provide advice here in the U.S. from California to Vermont, in Canada, and also a big movement afoot in the U.K. Any other information you or any other reader can provide, will be greatly appreciated. I do the best I can with search engines, but...

Meanwhile, here is a web site that is a font of information for U.S. gardeners and perhaps others - The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center founded in 1982 by former first Lady, Lady Bird Johnson and the late actress Helen Hayes. Mrs. Johnson, who celebrated her 90th birthday in 2002, was probably the most responsible for starting the wildflower meadow and roadside planting movement here in the U.S.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
4801 La Crosse Avenue
Austin, TX 78739

The sun is shinning here today and it is mildly warm...I spent part of the morning outdoors and will be going out again as soon as I finish here.

-- posted by Georgene A. Bramlage

Top 4. Apr 19, 2003 11:34 AM

» Georgene A. Bramlage - Re: Wild flowers meadow and butterflies

In response to message posted by greggpasterick:

Gregg, I agree...it doesn't get much better than a landscape of wildflowers and butterflies :+) Fortunately, there are plenty of our native species or naturalized species that attract butterflies or their larva that can be used in perennial beds !

(Ah! There is another article brewing about this tropic...perhaps for the N.E. summer months!)

I sometimes find it a little disconcerting that we have so much education to do in helping people realize that in order to have the beautiful butterflies that love nectar, we need to have the, what are for some people, creepy crawlies who munch on our columbines, fennel and oh yes, milkweed!

Have you ever seen the monarch migration? This is on my list of thing to do.

Cheers!

-- posted by Georgene A. Bramlage

Top 5. Apr 20, 2003 1:33 PM

» Ireland - Wildflowers

I love wild flowers like primroses and cow slips. Spring is such a beautiful time with all of them blooming in the fields near my house.

-- posted by Ireland

Top 6. Apr 21, 2003 7:13 PM

» Georgene A. Bramlage - Primroses and cowslips

In response to message posted by Ireland:

Hi Ireland!

Thanks for stopping by! I'm always amazed at how the primroses and cowslips in the UK seem to thrive in chalky, sunny fields.

Here at home in New England, I have both the cowslips (Primula veris) and plain primroses (Primula vulgaris) that seem to thrive in shady, slightly moist corners.

The primroses I received via a friend from a man, long deceased, who enjoyed breeding them...apparently the ones I have were part of his stock as they are very plain :+)

The cowslips, I started from seed (Sutton's, I think) and I guess I was lucky. Apparently fresh seed right from the plant obtain the best germination.

I look forward to seeing them every spring, but it will still be several weeks before they make an appearance here.

Gardeners wanting to see pictures of P. veris and P. vulgaris should check
here.

-- posted by Georgene A. Bramlage

Top 7. Sep 2, 2003 9:15 PM

» muncrief - Glad I found you

Georgene- I came over from my topic Drawing Nature and found this article of extreme interest to me. We're going to convert a large chunk of lawn to a native-plant garden over the next year. Your article was just what I've been looking for! I've subscribed to your topic.

Brenda

-- posted by muncrief

Top 8. Sep 3, 2003 3:34 AM

» Georgene A. Bramlage - Re: Glad I found you

In response to message posted by muncrief:

Brenda,

I'm also glad we found each other! I have muc more information about establishing wildflower lawns and meadows, so if you have any questions please ask.

As the New England winter draws close upon us, I hope to be able to get to Part II, and even perhaps Part III, of Establishing Wildflower Lawns...

Your topic is fascinating...good pointers for gardeners as well as naturalists!

-- posted by Georgene A. Bramlage

Top 9. Sep 3, 2003 6:34 AM

» Barbara Bell - Re: Re: Glad I found you

In response to message posted by Cercis:

Last year I planted one of those pre-seeded wildflower mats along the front edge of our sidewalk in front of the house. The flowers grew wildly with cosmos leading the group - growing six feet high! But they were all annuals and I didn't expect to see them this year.

So we planted the shrub roses I've always wanted along that same patch of yard. You guessed it, the "annuals" had reseeded themselves and now the cosmos (again, 6 feet high and flopping over from the weight of their stalks) are overrunning the rose bushes! Poppies, gaillardia, and daisies also popped up.

The cosmos are visually arresting, but I will have to remove them (and the soil where the seeds reside?) and hope they don't come back again next year. The roses need to see daylight!

-- posted by Barbara Bell

Top 10. Sep 3, 2003 2:33 PM

» muncrief - Re: Re: Glad I found you

In response to message posted by Cercis:

I'll look forward to part II and III? And as we get into this project I certainly may be asking questions. My husband wants to put lots of native grasses like switchgrass, indiangrass, and eastern gamma. The spot we're looking at is large enough to accommodate his grasses and lots of wildflowers. One thing I'm going to try to establish is a couple of red yuccas. I have one in a bed out front, but I don't think it's getting enough sun. It has bloomed three times since I put it out, so we'll see how it does over the winter.

I'm glad you like my topic. I'm thoroughly enjoying writing the articles and may do a course eventually.

Brenda

-- posted by muncrief

Top 11. Sep 3, 2003 7:10 PM

» Georgene A. Bramlage - Wildflowers and roses!

In response to message posted by bici:

Wow, Barbara,

That must have been an interesting looking garden you had :+)

The mats are nice for very small areas...when used over larger areas (as they can be) the monetary expense is usually too much for most of us.

What I'd like to suggest is that you pull out as many of the wildflowers as you can, roots and all, right now...you're probably into the same rain spell we're in here in western MA, so this should be easy.

Next spring, after you prune the dead out of your shrub roses, pull out whatever wildflower and weed seedlings that have appeared and then mulch with a relatively fine bark mulch to a depth of about two inches. (The artist in you won't use artificially colored mulch, will she?)

It is important to keep the mulch back and away from the crown or stems of the roses...use this area for putting down a good quality rose fertilizer according to package instructions.

Stay away from manure unless you know for sure that the composting temperature has been held high enough to destroy weed seeds. Otherwise you'll realy have a problem. The neighbohood horse farm or stables probably won't have what you need...but a good garden center will.

Hopefully the mulch will smother whatever wildflower as well as weed seedlings that survice your first pulling. If any do appear through the mulch or around the base of roses, they will be relatively easy to pull.

So, you need some kind of mulch, and then some kind of fertilizer...either synthetic rose fertilizer, or composted horse or cowe manure...to contribute nitrogen.

This way, you will not have to remove any soil and have a neat, tidy bed!

LOL=Lots of Luck!

-- posted by Georgene A. Bramlage