Draine: Beauty of a meadow full of wildflowers not easy to duplicate

By Cathie Draine | Sunday, March 11, 2007

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March appears, the seasons begin to turn, and our need for the vivifying events of spring is great.

Poets have extolled the glory of the wild, flowery meadow to capture the feelings of emotional hyperbole that spring delivers.

Shakespeare in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” crooned:

“When daisies pied and violets blue,

And lady smocks all silver-white,

And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue

Do paint the meadows with delight …”

Who doesn’t want a meadow painted with delight? Filled with fragrant flowers? Alive with butterflies and bees?

This is one of those moments when flights of fancy need to be firmly grasped around the neck and invited to sit for a stern chat. Natural wildflower meadows are like rainbows — manifestations of natural forces that increase our sense of wonder. And human as we all are, we often are teased to try to duplicate that which delights us.

Enter the reality check. There are many reasons to delight in natural, native meadows. And there are compelling reasons not to try to duplicate these on our own turf.

Growing wildflowers from seed is not simple, despite the cheerful directions on the container. Most species require several years to establish themselves as a healthy community.

Great effort and time must be spent watering and hand weeding — yes, hand weeding, around the young plants to reduce competition from weeds.

Wildflowers are willful, and some are aggressive. There is a reason the annual sunflowers fill the roadsides and crowd out the native liatris. Some, like the ox-eye daisy, which is really a chrysanthemum, are invasive and often nearly impossible to control or remove.

Native wildflower meadows are very dynamic ecological systems and rarely the mixed quilt of colors that is promised. That is because some of the plants adapt quickly and take over.

Search your mind’s memory, and you will find drifts of our wild ox-eye daisy in the grass punctuating open aspen groves and invading pastures. Wet swales can be packed with fragrant bee balm. And tansy chokes the streamsides. The flowers are prolific but not very social; they rarely mix.

Sadly, there is an abundance of packaged material that suggests with astonishing hubris that a meadow of your choice — suited for hummingbirds, butterflies, shade or sun — can be shaken from a can on moderately prepared soil, kept damp for a couple of weeks and … bingo.

Included in the definition of hubris is the implication that a character is comparing himself to the divine, the gods or other higher powers, often resulting in harsh punishment.

Harsh potential environmental punishment in this case is delivered by ignorance, often clothed in the best of intentions. There is every good reason to try to maintain native plants in the sites of their choice.

But doing that requires an understanding of soil dynamics, an awareness of the insects, animals and birds that are part of the community and an appreciation of the fragility of the ecosystem as well as delight in the flowers.

There are reputable companies that are dedicated to restoring or establishing native grasslands and meadows. These are high-dollar operations, staffed by well-educated personnel. Most of these services are beyond the reach of the average homeowner or the small landowner.

A large part of the problem is that the packaged mixes often contain seeds of plants that, if established, can wreak havoc on the ecosystem. Common bachelor’s buttons, the white Achillea, and (gasp!) the Dalmatian toadflax are among the seeds that often lurk in the containers of instant meadows.

The first two are aggressive in a plant community, and Dalmatian toadflax has destroyed countless acres of pasture throughout the west and is the focus of vigorous state and federal eradication programs.

Additionally, a plant species may be regarded as noxious in one area of the county and accepted in another. Buyer, be educated.

So what is a person to do? If you have a small area such as a portion of a city lot, talk with local professionals who can give detailed advice for site preparation, can tell you the accurate content of the seed mix and the source of the seed and help you develop a wild area. Be aware that, done correctly, this can be a moderately expensive, labor-intensive, lengthy process.

Another alternative is to prepare your area (and that often means watering and fertilizing your weeds so that they are very responsive to the herbicide that will kill them), amending the soil as necessary and planting the area with clumps of native grasses and the native plants of your choice.

I am no landscape designer, but without too much thought, my list would include the following plants bought from reputable local growers:

- Grass selections — Sea oats, big blue stem, little blue stem, some of the miscanthus group and some clumps of fescue.

- Spring flowers — Pasque in abundance, lanceleaf bluebells, harebells, Prairie Smoke (geum triflorum), liatris and penstemon — glorious penstemon.

- Late summer plants — The magnificent Maximilian sunflower and the sweet My Antonia aster. Last to shine would be the astonishing goldenrod. And I would have leadplant shrubs because they are beautiful.

I’d have nice mulch paths through the garden and a bench so all could be appreciated in their time.

And while the garden wouldn’t be truly wild, I might invite Shakespeare out to enjoy some tea and sonnets to paint my “meadow” with delight.

Learn more

- This Web site is informative, well illustrated and easy to navigate. Although it focuses on Front Range plants and conditions, it is helpful. Go to www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/

- Find state noxious weed sites and lists at

www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/ npgs/html/taxweed.pl

- Find a discussion about “Meadow in a Can does it really work?” on www.nwcb.wa.gov/

education/publications/meadow.html

- There is an excellent discussion on Ecological Site Information System at http://plants.usda.gov/java/

noxiousDriver

Click on Related Tools, on Ecological Site Information System and About Ecological Site Information System.

- The April issue of Organic Gardening magazine contains an excellent article about creating a natural landscape by Zazel Loven. Check also the Web site at www.organic

gardening.com)

- Area greenhouses that will have a good selection of native plants and grasses include, but are not limited to Jolly Lane, Plantsmyth, Black Hills Nursery in Rapid City and Homestead Nursery in Belle Fourche.

Cathie Draine is a member of the South Dakota State University Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners and the Garden Writers’ Association. She lives and gardens in Black Hawk. She may be contacted at cathiedraine@rap.midco.net.