Let's talk about Wildflower Hill today. You all may remember we purchased our property three and one half years ago. At that time we had to clear a lot of trees and scrub growth. After everything was cleared we wound up with predominately broomsedge grass on the Wildflower Hill portion of our property. While broomsedge is not bad for wildlife I wanted forbs in order to feed the pollinators and wildlife such as birds and deer.
My solution for adding forbs was to wintersow a good amount of native wildflower seed purchased from Roundstone Seed in Kentucky in February 2014. This was after speaking to the Tennessee biologists about the area of my land I needed help developing. I really wished for help doing a prescribed burn but help was not forthcoming so Mr. Fix-it and I went it on our own by wintersowing. All of my research told me it would take a few years for the wildflowers to even show up let alone spread and take hold after seeding. Enter summer 2016 and we are now seeing some results from our labors. The above gray headed coneflowers are definitely one of the seeded forbs I added to the area. This is the first year I have seen it and I am very excited!
Here is a long look at one part of the approximately two acre area of Wildflower Hill. It looks like a jumble of weeds--and some might consider it so but not me! It is pure beauty.
Coneflowers have been growing in the area for two summers now. They are beginning to seed about a bit. I am ever so happy to see happy wildflowers!
Goldenrod, mountain mint, and wild beebalm already had seeds laying dormant in the soil. While some of these wildflowers may be from my seeding the wildflower seed I think the majority of these seeds just needed to be exposed to the sun in order to sprout and grow. I say this because the goldenrod is a fairly common roadside weed that grows abundantely just about everywhere. The mountain mint and bee balm are thick as thieves in one particular spot of the Wildflower Hill and that is not a spot where I sowed my seeds. Those two wildflowers are spreading out and attract predominantly swallowtail butterflies. On any sunny day I can ride down the hill and marvel in the hundreds, if not thousands, of butterflies partaking of these plants. It is almost really surreal! Imagine everything in slow motion without hardly a sound around and you see black butterflies gently swaying back and forth between flowers. Amazing, simply amazing.
A close up of the mountain mint.
A close up of the goldenrod. This is a wonderful wildflower and I think it will help to sustain my bees over the winter. I never find any honeybees on these flowers but I can smell the distinctive smell of goldenrod nectar as they bring it to the hive. Hopefully they will make lots of honey to sustain them over the winter.
Queen Anne's lace is a non-native wildflower that has naturalized here in America. I like it even though it is not native. I always finds lots of bugs partaking of its goodness.
Tall coreopsis (Coreopsis tripteris) grows predominately at the bottom of Wildflower Hill. Two years ago it was a solid mass of flowers. Last year and this year it has not come back as strong and robust as that first year.
Greater tickseed is a pretty little ray of sunshine.
Queen Anne's lace.
I am not sure what type of wildflower this one is. It may be more Coreopsis major or a type of cup plant or something else. I need to do more research on this one.
Rose pink (Sabatia angularis) is a biennial that showed itself big time two years ago. This year it is back but not in such great numbers as it was two years ago. This is not an issue limited only to Wildflower Hill because I noticed that along the roadsides it has not shown up as much as two years ago either.
Also flowering but not pictured are: bee balm, verbascum, butterflyweed, asters, and ironweed....
in the garden....
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden
Mr. Fix-it and I have been working on our land for over two years now and this particular hill is a main focal point of our efforts. When we purchased the land this 800 foot long and steep hill was mainly all tree saplings, blackberry vines, and weedy trees. It was a mess! My vision for it was to restore it to a native prairie/woodland type settings with native wildflowers (forbs) and native grasses growing on it.
To begin with we had lots and lots of broomsedge. I love the broomsedge as it is an easy care native grass that is very attractive in the winter, but I also wanted some forbs (wildflowers). Forbs are what gives the ecosystem some variety and the wide range of native forbs available ensures that pollinators will have a wide choice of plants to choose from on their journeys. Also, if you look at my native warm season grass post about wintertime habitats you will quickly see that broomsedge by itself can get pretty boring. Looking at the above picture you can see there is much more than grasses growing on this hill now. Some might see it as a weedy worthless pasture but I see it as nirvana--and success!
After Mr. Fix-it and I cleared the hill I purchased a bunch of native wildflower seeds and winter sowed them in the early spring of last year. The process for pretty simple. I purchased a seed mix from Roundstone Native Seed Company and spread them around the hill after I aerated the hill to provide some anchoring for the seeds. Of course, the first year of wildflower sowing you generally won't get many blooms, though we did have a few last year. Unfortunately, with the house build and the underground electricity ditch coming right up Wildflower Hill I did not have much time to really focus on the hill and most of the blooms were from dormant seeds on the hill. This year I ride up and down the hill each day and marvel at all the changes to the plants and all the pollinators those plants bring in. Right now the frittilaries are very busy with the wildflowers and are the dominant butterfly visible to me.
The coreopsis is beautiful and quite sunny.
To me this is one of the most beautiful gardens around-nature's garden! Not tidy and neat at all but so full of life, color, and beauty.
Even the very weedy horse nettle can be pretty growing in this mix of forbs and grasses. I so far don't have a major issue with horse nettle but since it does not provide benefit for the wildlife I think I'll be taking action to prevent this horse nettle from getting out out of hand.
This particular wildflower is problematic for me but not in this spot. Can you see the upright feathery like green plants in the middle of the above picture? It is lespedeza and is a big pain in the butt. While lespedeza can be beneficial as forage for cattle and other wildlife, it is quite a terrible weed in a cultivated garden such as what I have closer to the house. The stems are wiry and the roots go deep. It is almost impossible to pull out and digging it out disturbs adjacent plants. I am still going to fight the battle in the gardens though. In this spot the lespedeza is fine. I do hope it does not spread though.
Verbascum thapsis is an interesting and easy to identify wildflower. It is an introduced plant and is pollinated by bumblebees. On the hill it is scattered around but not in such numbers that it will take over the other wildflowers. I enjoy its tall stalks of bright yellow flowers.
Here is a good picture of a few of the many forbs found growing on the field that really pique my interest. Pictured are red Indian Pinks (Spigela marilandica), White milkweed (Asclepias variegata), and the yellow is what I believe to be Coreopsis major.
I believe this to be Coreopsis major.
Lanceleaf coreopsis.
Thistle, not sure which kind.
Oxeye daisies (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum)
Coreopsis major on the northern hill crest.
I am pretty excited to see what kind of wildflower this tall thick one turns out to be. It has not bloomed yet but is looking good.
Does anyone know what it could be?
This may be goldenrod. I don't know.
Unfortunately we still have some woodies growing on the hill. Bushhogging one time per year will keep them under control. We bushhog in the late winter.
Butterfly weed and rudbeckia have showed up.
This is a view from below the huge Wildflower Hill. It definitely looks weedy but paradise to me! The hill faces east and has some mature cherry, oak, hickory, maple, and gum trees dotted about. I am grateful the previous owner had the bulldozer leave a few trees when he cleared this hill. The trees add to the diversity, provide some shade, and look nice. They have so far not bothered the wildflowers growing here. We have sunny, part sunny, and even shade wildflowers growing on the hill.
White milkweed (Asclepias variegata) are a wildflower that is good for monarchs and can grow in shade-even full shade. This milkweed grows all over the property and Mr. Fix-it and I like it.
I am not sure what type of wildflower this yellow ray flower can be. I think perhaps Coreopsis major. Does anyone know? It is blooming everywhere in my part of Tennessee right now. I love its sunny disposition. There are so many yellow ray flowers that I have a hard time keeping up with them all.
This is some kind of skullcap. The folks at the Tennessee Native Plant Society think perhaps it is hairy skullcap. I think they are right after reading this link describing how it is difficult to identify skullcaps since so many are similar to each other.
I still have lots of cultivated gardens here too but they are unfortunately inundated with another wildflower called ragweed. By the time I weed one garden it is filled with more weeds. It is a struggle for me to get the gardens up to my standard. In spite of this that is not why I am focusing on wildflowers. I adore wildflowers and always wanted a wildflower area. The Wildflower Hill is but one of the many areas here. Soon Wildflower Hill will be covered in purple bee balm and other summer wildflowers. The very nature of change in a garden is something I love to watch so I am really liking the flower progression. I also have a small (900 square foot) field I planted and am cultivating for wildflowers. It is in full bloom and I hope to show it on here soon. Its location is right near my beehives so it is a great thing for them. I have been rather busy with family visiting and maintaining things day by day but am enjoying wildflowers....
in the garden....and hope you are too.
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden
American Columbo is blooming its heart out this year and is looking the best I have seen it in the past three springs. Wowser on the blooms that the bees simply adore. But, as pretty as the little blooms are they are quite hard to really enjoy unless you get up close to the plant. The real show with the American Columbo is the stature of these grand native wildflowers.
From a distance of over 200 feet the American Columbo will draw your eye to it immediately. The unknowing plant person will likely wonder what the tall and stately plant can be. For you see, in my experience American Columbo is not so common around my area of Tennessee. I am sure many hikers and naturalists are familiar with it but until buying this property I had never seen or noticed it before. An interesting note is that when I was visiting my daughter in Louisville a few weeks ago we took a trip to Bernheim Arboretum (highly recommended trip) I noticed some plants of American Columbo and was most excited. There were only a few plants and none in bloom that I could see but hey, it was a start on finding this cool plant in a spot other than our property.
These plants range in height from three to eight feet tall. That is a really tall wildflower and I believe this particular wildflower is one of the tallest wildflowers in Tennessee. In fact, the book Wildflowers of Tennessee the Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians says it is one of the tallest in Tennessee. If you saw a mass of them in person you would be awed!
This mass of the wildflower is in the corner of my yard in a native plant area that I try to maintain by leaving it alone. All year long there will be a parade of stunning native wildflowers come in and out of bloom in this area. The butterflies and pollinators are in heaven. I was quite pleased to see the bumble bees and honey bees love the American Columbo flowers. My two beehives are still doing fairly well and the bees have been a lot of fun. I have been stung twice but that's okay and to be expected.
Like I said in the opening of this post this year makes the best year ever for the American Columbo. The sad thing is that once all of these flowers have bloomed out and the plant has set seed these plants that are blooming will all die. Their dying will leave a void in the area, but a void I hope will be filled with new American Columbo plants from the interesting seed stalks the American Columbo will leave behind. I will do a post on the seed stalks once they come into their glory. I don't think there is a lot of information on the seed stalks but they are most interesting in their own right. This American Columbo grows in this field, in the woods, along side the hills, on road banks, and many places you would not expect it to grow. Despite it being so adaptable it is not an invader or a troublesome plant. Soon all of these plants that are not blooming will go dormant until next year....
in the garden....
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden
