Wildflower meadow has never looked better

There are lots of flowers blooming in our gardens around the house, but for this Garden Blogger's Blooms Day* I'm going to feature our wildflower meadow, which has never looked better.

It's been a strange summer with far too much rain and low temperatures (until it got hot this week). The effect on the meadow has been to slow the blooms down, and keep the flowers fresher for longer. I think the cool nights have contributed to this in a big way.

Echinacea and Ratibida with Monarda in the background

As a result, we have flowers blooming together that normally would not be there at the same time. This is especially noticeable with bee balm (Monarda didyma). In a normal, hot summer, it would be going to seed by now. So when photographing, we have these lovely soft lilac-mauve tones through the meadow, which is dominated by the yellow of the ratibidas and rudbeckias at this time of the year.

Liatris has become well-established in the meadow now

Together with camera club friends, I spent many hours photographing in the meadow this week. We try to start at sunrise and go until 8 or 9 a.m. and then have coffee. Our photographic goal is to try to create some visual order out of the profusion and chaos of the wildflowers. It's a fun challenge.

My crew and I also weeded this past week (mostly my crew, I have to admit). The meadow, which is made up of native flowers and grasses, was getting overrun with non-native Queen Anne's Lace, which takes over and gives us white blobs in the background when we photograph.

It actually wasn't too bad a job because the wet ground made it possible to pull them out - tap root and all. By not allowing this biennial weed to go to seed this year we've cleared up the problem for a couple of seasons. (The other weeds we remove from the meadow are Canada thistle and sow thistle.)

Queen Anne's Lace is pretty, but like all weeds, it reproduces excessively, and ends up dominating parts of the meadow.

Many gardeners imagine that you don't have to weed naturalized plantings, but it ain't so, I'm sorry to say. If you want a wildflower meadow to look its best, you have to control unwanted plants. I find that it always seems like a much bigger job than it turns out to be. In fact, removing the Queen Anne's Lace only took a couple of mornings and part of two afternoons, thanks to David and Shelly, my invaluable garden helpers. (I did a short stint too, but mostly, I've had to stick to the mowing, which never seems to end.)

More blooms:

Echinacea shot with a portrait lens
that allows for lovely soft backgrounds

Meadow blazing star beginning to bloom

Rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium)

Monarda still in bloom in mid-August

Ratibida pinnata, the yellow that dominates the late summer

More information about our meadow and how we established it is at my website.

*Thanks to Carol at May Dreams garden blog for the opportunity to share with other gardeners. Be sure to visit her blog to see many more August Blooms Day offerings.

© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

July blooms day. Doesn't feel like mid-summer

Flowers seem to be a week or two late this year. We've had very cool temperatures, and lots of rain. The past two nights have gone down to 6.5 degrees C (43F), and daytime temperatures are comfortable. Is this really July?

I'm liking this summer very much. Heat and humidity: who needs it? Apparently, the tomatoes do: they're not growing well at all, but I only have three plants.

Here's a selection of what's in bloom right now:

Echinacea pallida is among the first flowers to bloom in our meadow

Persicaria polymorpha has been in bloom for a month: what a plant!

My semi-circular border with Persicaria, blue oat grass, Stachys officinalis and a silly-looking puff-ball Allium christophii (self sown, front right)

Eryngium giganteum (Miss Willmott's ghost) and Knautia macedonica
in our Piet Oudolf-inspired border (now the wild garden)
Photo: David Rees

Border mainstay: Echinacea purpurea
Photo: David Rees

In the meadow, the more delicate E. pallida

Lots of daylilies coming on now

Clematis 'Duchess of Albany', lady's mantle and lavender
in the four-square garden

In containers, we have my husband's seed-grown Agapanthus

My favorite Whichford pot in the front courtyard with wave petunias,
million bells, sweet potato vine and burgundy Dracena

At the front steps, a Canadian made pot (Night & Day Studio) with wave petunias and verbena, Cerinthe major (not in flower yet), white and purple Nierembergia in neighboring pots

Featured comment: Greetings from Night and Day Studio in Mount Forest!
Thank you for the credit on a fine terracotta planter, but unfortunately it is not ours. I do believe it is also a Whichford planter (applied lattice work). Thanks anyway and happy gardening!

Paul Kaye- owner-Night and Day Studio
www.nightanddaystudio.com

For more contributions to Garden Bloggers Blooms Day, head on over to May Dreams.

© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

June blooms: we're in fragrance heaven

The most colorful spot in June - John's rock garden

Mmmmm, it really smells sweet here right now, particularly in the evenings. At the side door, the last of Palibin lilacs waft their scent and from behind the house comes the lovely perfume of the black locust trees.

Dame's rocket growing under a stand of sumacs
naturalized area around our silo

Walk to my husband John's rock garden, and there's the spicy fragrance of dianthus, mingled with that of dame's rocket, which grows wild under the sumacs nearby. Then at my four-square garden, it's the peonies, just starting to bloom. I remember well when we first moved here - 11 years ago now - there was no garden, and very little scent - just the black locusts.

A June bouquet from the 4-square garden:
peonies, lady's mantle and Siberian iris

So what else is in bloom for this garden blogger's bloom day? Well, we have rock garden plants (that garden has never looked better) - too many to mention, even if I knew what they all were.

A closer view of a part of the rock garden
with pink creeping baby's breath, dianthus, alpine alyssum

In my flowerbeds, there's beautybush, giant white fleece flower (Persicaria polymorpha), false blue indigo (Baptisia australis), lady's mantle, Siberian iris and Allium christophii, Salvia offincialis, and catmint.

Persicaria polymorpha, beautybush and false blue indigo
in my semi-circular border

Except for the rock garden, June isn't as colorful in most of my garden as July is. That's because my orientation is the prairie style, based on lots of ornamental grasses and masses of mid- to late-season perennials. Still to bloom too is our prairie meadow, which comes into its own next month.

For lots more on June Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, head on over to May Dreams Gardens.

© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

May flowers for bloggers' bloom day

Here's my contribution to Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. There are many more things in bloom than I have time to list. We have been fortunate to have a relatively cool spring, so the early bulbs and flowering shrubs are lasting a long time. I love it when we get a prolonged spring.

Lily-flowered tulip Claudia (I think) with bleeding-heart

Brunnera with daffodils and epidmedium in the back

White Angel crab apples in the "orchard"

Eastern Redbud in the shrub border
(This was a tiny seedling given to us by my mother a few years ago)

John's rock garden is in its spring glory right now

My Euphorbia polychroma hedge - these were all self-sown plants moved to the edge of a walkway

To see Bloom Day contributions from many more garden bloggers, head on over to May Dreams Gardens.

© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

April flowers - Bloom day highlights

Here's my contribution to Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. (Head on over to May Dreams to see all the other contributions.) As you can see, our early flowers are pretty subtle. Mostly, they are the little bulbs, and a couple of rock garden plants. There's not too much happening here yet, but I'm glad to report that the lawn is greening up.

Puschkinia libanotica or striped squill

Pasque flower - just beginning to open - love those neat furry buds

Classic combination: scilla and narcissus

Draba in my husband John's rock garden

Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa)

Cornus officinalis, Japanese cornel, a type of dogwood

© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: Green fuse now lit

Snow Crocus

Our Bloom's Day offering is quite meager: our first specious crocus flowers came out a couple of days ago. These lonely little flowers will soon be joined by many others. The snowdrops started blooming a week ago.

Looking forward to the official start of spring at the end of the week. Best of all, we have a few mild days ahead, and it's Canada Blooms week. My hort-buddy from Michigan is coming for a visit. Mini holiday!

Dark blue snow crocus

Cute little snowdrops

© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener