Category: Meadow project

3rd Year Meadow

Happy is the meadow planter

First weeks of Fall in the Sierra foothills The season has changed in the foothills around Oakhurst. The fierce heat of the last month has broken and the cool of this morning is delicious. I’ve been hand watering all along and I can see the end to this chore coming. I take stock of the…

California native meadow project – third year

To prepare for a community garden club talk on this meadow project today, this slideshow was put together to show highlights from the first two years. This will give you an idea of what changes have been made from this former weedy field! First I seeded the meadow the first year, 2010, with California native…

Native California meadow in the second year

Big changes all around The meadow in May…checking the progress and weeding, weeding… Last year, here in the Sierra foothills, I started a meadow project in a weedy field below the south side of our home. Bounded by a sycamore tree on the south a path on the north, a rock garden on the west,…

The midsummer meadow

In early July, the meadow is at its peak and gives pleasure every day.  Here are some of the advantages and realities of growing your own!

A CA Native seeded meadow is possible.
It takes some weeding.
The flowers are bright and grasses wave in the wind
Bare spots happen.
Seeds wash down hill sprout where they can.
Seeds spread where they can and more flowers pop up.
Meadows need little water and care if native seeds are used.
Meadows can fit into a garden with perennials.
Meadows are  enjoyable for months of the year.

Meadow color

Meadow color in summer

2011-5-5 California native meadow in May, the ideal image in my head and now in reality!

2011-5-5 California native meadow in May, the ideal image in my head and now in reality!

July meadow

July meadow

Meadow in May, poppies, bird's eye gilia and tidytips mostly. Pacific fescue is blooming

Meadow in May, poppies, bird’s eye gilia and tidytips mostly. Pacific fescue is blooming

All the wild color make the Brodiaea look subdued.

All the wild color make the Brodiaea look subdued.

“Ah! How I long for the beautitude of a summer meadow-place
That calls me ever forward and slightly to the left
That begs of me to forget the stressful stresses of life.”

Slim Walter DeTurtlevain, Very Bad Poetry

Past the peak bloom-late July
This late afternoon, while watering, I noticed the last strong rays of sun glinting on the seedheads of the meadow. In mid summer, the last of the  California poppies and Globe gilia have done and are forming seeds. A few Clarkia amoena hang in and the yarrow is at its peak. The vulpia grasses are golden brown as they’ve been all last month.

A few Clarkia amoena hang in and the yarrow is at its peak. The vulpia grasses are golden brown as they’ve been all last month.

Everything is drying quickly and I have a bit more mulch I’ll cover the bare ground with as the plants shrink and dry. I’ve been watering about every three days by hand, especially the new perennials around the edge.…

My California native meadow in June

In Fall of last year, I became tired of a field full of Filaree and embarked on planting a beautiful meadow of native wildflowers and grasses. The Filaree stickers  stick terribly to Maggie, our Corgi.  Here are photos showing  progress and challenges. June is when the pay-off for all hard work happens.

Here is the meadow at the end of June, with the Chinese Houses faded and the poppies still going strong. The stars for this month are the wonderful and new-to-me Globe Gilia and the flamboyant Clarkia amoena, as pretty and bright as any petunia.

Meadow looking south

Meadow looking south

The Sycamore is all leafed out after having been frozen in late snows. The Cherry tree at top left was also damaged enough in the cold that it has no cherries this year and now only presides over its own patch of wildflowers which spread downhill.

Maintenance and mulch
I’ve weeded around the edges, but only when I wander out there, (no big sweep through)… mostly finding odd grasses, field madder and bedstraw.
I’ve watered a bit in the hot mornings.
I’ve put logs along the upper edge to neaten and define it and I’ve mulched the path and the bare patches of ground in the middle of the meadow and around the edges, preparing for the hot summer.  A nice long late-season rain this week has brought some welcome moisture. I’m delighted with that!

Meadow and steps toward house

Meadow and steps toward house

There are paths or steps on all sides and Tractor Man and I find ourselves walking this way with Maggie just to enjoy the color. There is so much to see, always something new, it seems.

Globe Gilia, Gilia capitata

Globe Gilia, Gilia capitata has been the star of the show in June

Globe Gilia is not only tall, almost 3 feet high, but also full, having many branches and lots of buds. I’d consider sowing this in a swath elsewhere, after reading that it reseeds and germinates easily and seeing its fine ferny foliage. Being drought tolerant and  butterfly attractors are two more benefits. What’s not to like?…

The wildflower meadow in May

May Meadow In Fall of last year, I became tired of a field full of Filaree and embarked on planting a marvelous meadow of native wildflowers and grasses. The Filaree stickers are evil and they stick terribly to Maggie, our Corgi. Here are photos showing the progress  and challenges, with the first wave of flowers blooming…

Wildflower seedlings sown January 1st

Planting wildflower ‘muffins’

A wildflower experiment In my garden, I sowed a native California wildflower meadow. It was a very fun project and I learned a lot.  Now, in another area of my garden I call “The Natural Meadow” I continue more experiments!  See what I did! First of all, my objective here was to add very few…

Let’s check on Fall and Winter projects!

This snowy, drippy day…what else to do but check on past projects. Getting rid of Mexican Primrose 10-15-2010 Invasive plants and impatience in the garden March Update:  There are a few sprouts coming up of the Mexican primrose which confirms that it’s the right decision not to have replanted the plants I removed from the front…

Do you dream of a natural and beautiful wildflower meadow?

How to plant a meadow in California foothills I do dream of that!  In late summer, my new project was to find California native seeds in a large enough quantity at an affordable price, get rid of the weeds and get my meadow.  A couple posts back are photos and a description of the beginnings.…

What am I really doing in the garden in October?

1st Week I’m ready to move some plants around and plant more in a new area of the garden. It’s a sloping hill, about 30×30 on the south side of the house going down to one Sycamore tree planted about four years ago. You know how you think and think about a part of your…