A wildflower garden that nearly wasn’t…
The entrance to a home reflects the welcome you, along with your guests, receive and is a prelude into what lies beyond..
Our garage and front porch form an L shape with a path that curves from one to the other. This forms a lovey border to the garden bed that sits between them. The garden has wonderful potential on many levels. It gets full sun all morning into the mid afternoon, but is protected from the harsh Texas afternoon heat. Perfect for just about most plants or small ornamental trees. Maybe even a bubbling water feature.. who knows..
A variety of plants have been trialed over the years, some doing well, others not so much. I have just never seemed to get the combination quite right. Helping the pollinators is important to me. So when my husband suggested growing wildflower seeds, I figured I would give it a go. I must admit the thought of a low maintenance garden also really appealed.
I had received some wildflower seeds for Christmas, and had not yet decided on a place to try them. As the fall approached, I cleared out all the tired annuals and weeds, raked back the mulch, sprinkled my seeds, gently covered and watered. I had a great time imaging just how glorious a variety of lovely wildflowers would be. Along with all the happy pollinators buzzing from stem to stem.
The following weekend, my husband was out mowing, and blew all the freshly fallen leaves in my front garden patch!!!! Oh no.. He had not realized I had planted seeds!!!
Come the following spring and to my surprise some of my seeds had survived and were starting to grow. Yay! Alas.. the blower had blown most of them towards the front of the garden leaving a large portion of the garden bed bare.. (until the weeds popped up).
I decided that along with the wild flowers, that maybe the burdock and dollar weed would make a nice ground cover. By the time summer rolled around, even with some potted plants in strategic spots, my garden was a complete disaster. The wildflower plants, although healthy and thriving were not flowering. I was beyond disappointed, frustrated and embarrassed. This was now an absolute eyesore and the greeting to our home.
I am not a fan of sweating in the blaring sun whilst being carried away by mosquitos, and dodging spiders. So instead of clearing it all out, I mumbled apologies, and tried to make light of the mess to visitors. I promised myself come spring I would start again.
Fast forward to the spring. To my surprise, whilst the weeds had died back during the particularly harsh winter, the wildflower plants had survived. I decided to wait until the spring bulbs had finished before clearing a new patch to start again.
As spring progressed, the many random green plants started to emerge. Before long these plants started to shoot up, and all of a sudden flowers started to appear. First the bright yellow coreopsis, followed by pink cosmos, and those green plants that had previously just been a rosette of leaves, shot up and flowered. Evening primrose now literally standing 6 feet tall. There are also multiple tiny white daisy like flowers, which dance in the breeze atop long elegant stems, and there is Echinacea (pink cone flowers) towards the back.
This back section framed by giant evening primrose in the foreground, is not only visible from our front porch, but also the guest bedroom. Its like looking into a secret garden.
My messy disaster of a garden that came within days of being ripped out, has blossomed into something really beautiful. It is enjoyed by all who visit! I now sit marveling at the humming birds, butterflies, bees, and dragonfly’s that dance and play among the wildflowers. It brings a smile to my face every time I pass by and think about my messy, disaster of a wildflower garden that nearly wasn’t.
In summary, I’m sure there is a lesson here…
Perhaps its patience.. If we give something time to flourish, that with patience we will get results.
Perhaps its a great metaphor that sometimes things get messy before the real beauty occurs
Personally along with the above, I think it goes to show that things do not have to be perfect in all aspects of our lives. That we should absolutely take time to smell the roses, and that no matter how bleak.. if you look closely enough you will find beauty (except in a closet.. if you have to look that closely, its time to clean it out lol).
So there it is.. my beautiful wildflower garden that nearly wasn’t! Purely accidental loveliness!
What beauty and treasures have you found amongst mess and disaster?
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