Influence

I started the editing process of the next twenty five feet of utility meadow below the Great Lawn last year. The effect that has becomes very apparent at this time of year. It is well over the property line, but visually it is the lower wall of the garden. It needs more color. It needs to work with the larger garden. Like I really need more ground to tend.

Expansion becomes possible as the Tall Flower Meadow becomes more self sustaining requiring less of my time to edit. Maybe next spring I will get around to thinning out my least favorite Goldenrod. That will make room for a plant of a different color.

This is my favorite Goldenrod and I have never been able to definitively ID it. It stays short at three to four feet and blooms compactly along the stem. One thing I have noticed is it seems to have a preference for some shade. It may not want to move itself into the sunnier parts of the meadow.

The grasslands are up by the scenic byway. It is time for Miscanthus 'Morning Light' to initiate the bloom procedure.

Ironweed and the perennial sunflower have moved in to join them. The grasses have grown significantly larger and crowded out many of the former inhabitants. Here to, I only have an influence on the final outcome.

At home I am a wild gardener getting more comfortable with less control. I used to think I had sole veto power. So many things have refused to grow under these conditions, obviously that is not the case.

My steering influence comes in removing the obnoxious, annoying and unwanted to make room for more pleasant things. The results are out of my hands. Under the circumstances I find myself in, I can live with that.