Wildflower Meadow

[poliphilo]

I was going to broadcast wildflower seeds round the fields but now we have horses living in them anything that grows out there is going to get itself eaten or trampled so we're setting aside a corner of the garden as a wildflower meadow instead. Julia is preparing the ground now.



She says she can bring us a hawthorn to plant as a centrepiece.

Digging through the undergrowth she found a primula in flower...

Comments

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

Wild flowers are lovely - I have a remote corner in my garden that I haven't done anything about, and it has lovely flowers throughout the summer; white chervil, blue chicory, purple nettles blooming in 2' grass is quite delightful. Also, I actually eat all of them except the grass - and the ground elder is also delicious in spring.

(Mind you, I'd go for a more heavily flowering mix if I were to have it in the garden proper - but it's down behind the shed and the greenhouse, so it's a place I go down to, rather than something I see from the house or the terrace.)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'd rather have wild flowers than cultivated ones.

We've bought a wide range of seeds. There are poppies, mixes for attracting butterflies and bees and so on. Plus Julia says she can let us have some comfrey.

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

I'll just let my "meadow corner" develop as it wants to; it was pretty enough for me last summer, and the more cultured parts of my garden include lots of flowers and flowering trees and shrubs, so last summer a wild swarm of bees set up a hive in one of the small buildings. They were ever so welcome!

(Comfrey is lovely - but can become a bit of a thug if not kept in check... Planting it in large pots sunk into the ground can be a good way of making it a lower-maintenance plant - or planning a bed surrounded by lawn that's cut regularly, where it's okay if it eventually takes over completely. The last thing anybody wants is to plan a bed that will require more than minimal weeding.)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We have a bees' nest in the eaves. I suspect it originated with a swarm from the hives on our neighbour's property. I like to sit on the patio and watch them coming and going.

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

I have friends who are afraid of bees and I just don't understand it; they're such friendly and useful little critters. I fortunately don't have many butterflies - which means almost no issues with caterpillars in my vegetable garden! I wouldn't do anything to get rid of them, but I won't try to attract them, either... I have around 100 square metres of vegetable garden, so those little caterpillars could destroy crops that can otherwise feed me for months!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We have what I think is a lilac bush and it's a magnet for butterflies.

I love bees and I tolerate wasps. Neither species attacks wantonly.