Meadow Brodiaea

The rate at which the wild things can encase a garden and store bought plants is astounding. Gardening in the wilderness is not for the timid or the easily intimidated. The unknown blue Aster, Ageratina, Erigeron, Eupatorium, Clematis virginiana, Parthenocissus quinquefolia and Impatiens pallida to name just a few, all vie to fill an empty space as quickly as possible. The wild understory is at three feet tall and growing.

Venturing into the garden is like going on a treasure hunt. You have to find the plants that make up a "garden". Brodiaea is poking up in several spots.



Campanula has been spotted in blue, white and this speckled, palest of pink.



Great swaths of the Coreopsis actually seem to do pretty good at keeping out the wild things.



Wild rambling roses line the fence line. They have a hard time with the Clematis virginiana that wants to sit on top of the pile and the Goldenrod coming up through the middle. Weeding such a tangled mess is a delicate procedure.



You have to give Bulbarella and her assistant credit. This is a lot of steeply undulating ground to tend and at eighty they are both still clambering over this mountain trying to give the store bought garden plants an advantage. Without them this floral abundance would not be as diverse.




A meadow is created by a process of eliminating the unwanted and adding seeds mostly, of the pretty flowering things. The result is a particularly diverse true meadow. It is far too rambunctious to try to tame or civilize this space.



I watch all this and contemplate my future attempts at the notion of a garden. I know it can be done, but just how far do I want to exert my will on this wild place? It will require a lot of will to contain the wild things.



That is where mulch comes in. A thick layer of mulch accomplishes about 90% of the battle.

After a trip to Raleigh and Plant Delights nursery, the resident gardeners came back convinced of the power of mulch. Ten yards of double ground hardwood mulch was delivered to be spread in the ridge top garden. I think this will give them the upper hand in containing the wild things, at least in the areas where they are actually willing to remove them. The wild things are often pretty in their time. Having a mountaintop change from white in the late summer with the Ageratina to blue in the fall with the Aster is not something to give up entirely.



Having a walk through a garden be a regular treasure hunt isn't such a bad thing either.