My Wildflower Garden

I don't know why I call this my "wildflower" garden since it's not made up of wildflowers. Maybe because it's wildly unorganized. Here's what I did: Early last fall, I cut down a hedgerow that was right here and then put a truckload of cotton waste on the spot. The cotton waste was still "hot" and pretty much killed everything that would have grown up in it. After a couple of months, the cotton waste had aged to the point where I felt it was safe to plant seeds in it. So I purchased a hodge-podge of seeds and threw them in the ground on the spot. Seeds included were California poppies, Telstar dianthus, toadflax, Rocket larkspur, Old Spice sweetpeas, and some others. The above mentioned were the ones that survived this battle of the fittest. Some flowers that did not make it were snapdragons, alyssums, hollyhocks, and petunias. I guess they were crowded out by the more vigorous plants. This is what it looks like today. The only thing I did to this bed was water it during dry spells last fall - no watering this year. Probably in a month or two when it starts looking ragged, I'll pull up everything and do it again with warm season annuals.

Cottage Craziness

Here are some of my "cottage" flowers. This first picture is a bloom on my lone stokesia ("Stokes Aster.") This is a nice perrenial that grows well in the South. It's said to be a butterfly attractor. It's also evergreen for me. It only gets about a foot tall and comes in all shades of blue/purple/pink. It's a very nice looking plant that I may plant more of in the future. This lone plant came from the fall plant sale at the LSU Arboretum.

Next up comes my larkspur. I think this is the "Rocket" variety, but I'm not positive about the name. I'm a big fan of larkspurs - they are very easy and put on a spectacular show. The hummingbirds down here like them and visit frequently. They get about 5' tall, so don't put them at the front of the flower bed. You can also see some sweetpea blooms, toadflax, and poppies in this picture.

Here's littly Ali watering away on my larkspurs, California poppies, and dianthus. I think orange and purple flowers look nice together. This is my first year of planting California poppies, but it will certainly not be the last. They are definite winners for cool season planting in the South. I just have oranges and yellows, but might try some different types next year. Mine are about 18" tall and very showy.