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…
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
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
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 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?…
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…
