Rewilding My Lot

The wildflower meadow in the front of the house has completed two seasons of growth. Bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis) and Firewheel aka Indian Blanket (Gaillardia pulchella) have done very well, with some spectacular displays in the spring.

A few other wildflowers have grown too, but even though this is a small and limited area, I would like to see some more plant diversity. That would potentially make it more interesting for human passers-by, and provide more nutrition options for insect, reptile, and bird wildlife.

I have already transplanted into the meadow a few Mealy Blue Sage (Salvia farinacea), which grows so well behind the house, and which blooms late into the fall. I also transplanted in a similar manner a few small first-year Standing Cypress (Ipomopsis rubra) leaf rosettes as an experiment to see if they will develop.

The remaining meadow additions this year come from seed that I bought or was given. They include:

• American Basketflower (Centaurea americana)
• Mexican Hat (Ratibida columnifera)
• Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
• Lemon Beebalm aka Purple Horsemint (Monarda citriodora)
• Texas Wildflower Mix
• Texas-Oklahoma Native Roadside Mix

The meadow has recently been mown, and we have also just had a nice soaking rain, so this seemed a good time to put new seed on the ground.

I mixed all the seed together.

Then I mixed the seeds with a little soil taken from the back garden (to make the dispersion easier).

The seeds were scattered on the ground and then lightly watered in. That’s all the attention I plan to give them — I’ll let nature take care of germination.