Greetings from the Wildflower Garden

I don't believe that I have talked about the wildflower garden.

I love wildflower gardens. Groups of beautiful flowers that just grow, look spectacular and are low maintenance because it's not like a perfectly manicured bed where all weeds have to be removed from the crisply mulched sections between plants.

That's the theory anyway.

So I bought a packet of seeds last spring and we faithfully planted them between a rose bush, hydrangea, gardenia and a few other staples I'd slowly moved to this bed.


Yeaaaaaaaaaah, the thing about having a random packet of wildflower seeds with like 20 different kinds of flowers (and being a rookie) is that you don't have the darndest clue what the plants coming up look like**...nor the weeds along with them, ahem.

So last summer was an effort in constant trial and error...oooh, that's kind of pretty...let it grow...uh oh; I think that's a weed after all (what gave you the clue? That it's 3 feet tall and not blooming?!!)
And unfortunately I let some go way too long and so this year am reaping the horrors of weeds having gone to seed and spreading everywhere!!

It's a constant (and often neglected!) challenge, but I will keep on; weeding out weeds and unwanted flowers and planting wildflowers that I can actual recognize!
(It's also sort of become my "leftovers" garden...too many lily bulbs, daisies or tuplips when I thinned out the front? How about putting some in the back!)

There were a couple of weeks this spring/early summer where it really did look like how I'd always hoped!     So pretty!

** I had leftover seeds in the packet which I froze and decided to plant some more in a few bare spots this spring. One thing I knew for sure...I did NOT want Chinese Forget-me-nots in there! They have cute little blue flowers....and burrs. Oh so many burrs!! Trying to weed amongst them in an already overcrowded garden bed? [shudder]

So I had looked up all of the flowers listed on the packet and that's how I identified them. Next step? What do the seeds look like? 

Do you see where this is going?

Yes, I actually dumped out the seed packet and sifted through by hand to remove all of the Chinese Forget-me-not seeds!

It actually wasn't as hard as it sounds or as I thought it could be, but I thought the mental picture of me doing it would bring smiles.

It worked, too!