My Floral Obsession
I have an obsession with flowers, wildflowers in particular.
My obsession began while I was in college. The backdrop was the Adirondack Mountains. The hiking trails were abundant with wildflowers sprinkled here and there like little treasures to find.
Lady slippers and trillium.
Bunch berry and wood sorrel.
I had a beautiful wildflower garden once.
Before twelve hour rotating shifts.
Before the drought.
Over the last many years it has become kinda messy and overgrown. The weeds are taking over.
My husband, Michael, has been itching to create a wildflower garden where the old one used to be.
He wants to till it up and make a new garden.
All the years I’ve been here, I’ve been transplanting wildflowers dug up from roadsides into that space.
The blue eyed grass I dug up on the old dirt road that is fenced off now.
The butterfly weed I dug up on Zion Road near the old cemetery..
I can’t bear to lose them.
This year, I’m not planting the sweet potatoes I was hoping for (last year’s crop was delicious, by the way.)
Instead, half of the garden is being planted with the wildflowers I don’t want to lose along with some new roadside finds.
The butterfly weed hasn’t bloomed yet, but I dug up all the plants I could find in the garden we’re plowing under and planted them where the sweet potatoes would have been.
The same with the blue eyed grass.
I have several chicory plants in that garden but I can’t find them yet. Their stems are very easy to spot but they have a long taproot and are difficult to transplant. It took me several tries before I got some to take.
I want to give it a shot, though, because they’re so beautiful.
There are buttercups and hawk weed from the pasture. Daisies from the roadsides we’ve been picking flowers from to keep us in fresh flower bouquets this spring. Some very tall spiderwort from my daughter-in-law’s garden. A few species of clover with colorful blooms.
I used to drive around with a box lined with a plastic bag in the back of my van along with a trowel.
Now all I have to do is tell my husband that I saw these wildflowers…
And away we go!
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My obsessions are flowers and books. What are yours?
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I want a front yard of just wild flowers. Remember the Weed Lady’s front yard on Park Place? When I was little, I was a bit creeped out by her wild garden. But I grew to appreciate the beauty of it. And as an adult, I appreciate the fact that it is all about the honey bees and replenishing the worlds oxygen.
As for my obsessions, they would be rocks, trees, and the smell of the the earth, woods, and water.
We’re going to get that garden spot ready this summer and plant it this fall. Hopefully, someday, you can get up here to dig in the dirt with me! Along with flowers and books, I am a bit obsessed with trees, rocks, stones, and bird nests! The yellow wood tree in the back yard is blooming! You’d love it! ❤️
Awesome post! I have to admit, wild flowers are pretty but I know nothing about them. I always loved that red clover, as my mama used to call it. Beautiful pictures. Now that I am retired I will have to learn about them. Are there any that will just grow from seed if your throw them out over a hill covered with pine straw or do you have to til up dirt and cover? Probably a crazy question. But birds drop seeds all the time and weeds will come up. I may order wildflower seeds an throw them down my back hill and see what happens!! Never know. Thank you my friend. Oh and I love the fact you just stop and dig flowers up by the side of the road. Don’t you just love nature?😆🌸🌼🌻
Yes I do! And yes, you can buy wildflower seed and throw it on top of the soil. It’s recommended that you press it in place by walking on it or tamping it down a bit. The wildflowers I have were transplanted back when you couldn’t get seeds for them, some 20 to 30 years ago. All the blue eyed grass I’ve seen for sale is shorter than what I have and the flowers are more of a purple. I like my blue ones. From the few plants I brought home, I now have many clumps and I want to save them. I don’t think you necessarily have to till before they’re planted, but Michael wants to get rid of all the junk in the garden before we sow seeds and put the plants back. Give it a try! It’ll be beautiful!