Wild Flower Gardens Easy To Grow And Maintain
Wild Flower Gardening Small Ground Only Required Requirements for Wild Flower Gardening – Small Plot and Love
The pleasures of wild flower gardening are within the possibilities of anyone who has a small plot of ground and who loves wild flowers. We have in the Midwest many desirable native flowering plants that are easy to grow and not difficult to obtain.
It is recommended, however, that the first step in wild flower gardening be a study of the plants in their native surroundings, as well as in books. If it is impossible to get out into the country and see the flowering plants growing, there is all the more reason to make a thorough study of good books on the subject. The person without a proper appreciation for our native plants is likely to do much harm attempting to move them from the wild to the back yard. Generally speaking, the better procedure is to purchase the plants from a nursery. A list of native plant dealers will be found in some of the wild flower books available in book stores and public libraries.
The wild flower garden may be a few violets tucked away in a corner or it may be a sizeable wooded area planted in a naturalistic manner. A modest beginning is more appropriate for most of us. A rustic stone wall, a vine clad fence, or a planting of native shrubbery may serve as a back drop for the wild flower garden.
The plants should be relatively easy to grow and offer too much difficulty for the beginner. Some are suitable for shaded areas and some prefer sun. Many of them are pretty much at home in either sun or shade. All may be obtained from nurseries growing native plants, and all are adapted to the Midwest. In fact, all are native to this region. They should grow in almost any decent soil. The addition, however, of some bonemeal and leaf mold or other well rotted compost will usually be helpful. Most of our wild flowers are accustomed to leaf mold.
If you have a new place and little or no shade, you will find the wild verbena (Verbena canadensis) to be a good choice. It is found growing in abandoned meadows and old fields in full sun. It will also grow in partial shade. In May it makes a carpet of flowers on the rosy side of rose-purple. Common in south Missouri, it has a range from Pennsylvania to Minnesota and south to the Gulf of Mexico including Texas and Colorado.
The wild verbena grows in almost any ordinary garden soil and should be planted in such numbers as to blanket at least a small area. The stems creep over the ground with the tips upright, presenting a solid mass of small, trumpet”shaped flowers in dense clusters.
Another sun-loving plant that brings beauty to our garden in May and early June is the shooting star (Dodecatheon Meadia). It is found in great numbers on a small area of virgin prairie sod in central Missouri as well as many other places in the Midwest. A likely place to look for it is along the right”of-way of railroads in prairie country. It belongs to the primrose family and is closely related to the cyclamen. The inch long, almost white to pale lavender or orchid flowers are delicately fragrant and grow on bare stalks eight to 14 inches long. The foliage consists of a circle of leaves at the base of the stalk. Good garden soil is all that is required to grow this delightful plant. It will grow in sun or partial shade.
From woodlands and glades as well as the sunny prairies, we get the airy daintiness of the wild hyacinth (Camassia scilliodes). It will add charm and a delicate fragrance to any wild garden together with the passion flower vine, be it in full sun or part shade. Since it grows from a bulb, it is not difficult to transplant when dormant just like the passion vine. The misty gray-blue flowers appear in May on a spray standing 12, to 18 inches high. I have seen flower spikes 20 inches tall in a favorable prairie site. Sometimes the bulbs are buried as much as ten or 11 inches deep. Without the flower stalk the foliage might appear to be coarse grass.
Though the May apple (Podophyllum peltatum) is more frequently found in the partial shade of open woods, I have observed it growing vigorously in large colonies along roadside fences in full sun. Some of its appeal for me may be connected with youthful associations. However, the form of the plant, with its umbrella-like leaves, is interesting and attractive. The flower itself which opens in late April or early May is really quite beautiful though nearly hidden by the two large leaves on each stalk. The twin leaves at the top of a stalk some 12 inches high suggest a suitable place for fairies to indulge in midnight revelries. The May apple should have an opportunity to develop at least a small colony. In a favorable site the underground root”stalks soon produce a family of plants. Rarely do we find a lone May apple in the wild.
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