But not yet for a while. Any mowing will be done at the end of August, by which time the grass will be a lot longer and I’ll have had a lot more different flowers in my tiny meadow.
By asking Neil to run round the edge of the circular lawn twice with the mower and then two passes up the centre to make a path through to the gate by the pond, it makes it look as though it is meant to be like this and not just neglected, or that is the idea anyway.
Self heal, daisies and buttercup are the first flowers to appear.
Self heal gets its common name from its blood clotting properties, apparently carpenters and woodworkers always had it handy in the olden days in case they cut themselves.
A clearly defined path draws the eye up to the pond area but you can’t see the gate because of Crocosmia Lucifer.
Buttercups like our heavy damp clay, I have to try and stop them from creeping into the surrounding borders.
Yarrow has popped up with flowers very similar to Achillea, but very much smaller.
Not a very good photo of the clover that is in the lawn. This makes sure that it always stays green, even in the hot weather that we are having now. The bees love this plant.
The small spires of plantain are dotted everywhere.
There are tiny little white flowers in the lawn, common name ” eye bright”. I can’t find my wild flower book at the moment, so can’t give you the latin names of these wild flowers unfortunately. I believe that young maidens, in olden days, used to make a concoction from this plant to bathe their eyes, I presume to make themselves attractive to the young men!
We found in the past that when the grass grows longer, different butterflies come to the garden to lay their eggs. In the past we have had Meadow Browns and Ringlets. The eggs are laid on the grass stems and eventually the caterpillars eat the grass, which is fine by me, before they form a chrysalis. Long grass attracts more insects, which in turn attracts more birds and we have also seen bats swooping over the circle, hoovering up the insects.
Everything considered, by letting part of the lawn grow longer, brings another habitat into the garden which benefits wildlife. The one bit of wildlife which I don’t welcome into my little mini meadow is the mole that is wreaking havoc by sending up large molehills still. Every morning I clear away between 3 and 8 molehills as the mole searches deeper for the worms.
Our heatwave has now lasted since the beginning of May with just one shower about 3 weeks ago. This week the temperatures have dropped a little, thank goodness and lots of plants are coping amazingly well, they must have very deep roots. Half the grass has stayed green but the other half is now brown. I am just watering my pots and any recent plantings. I still have water in my waterbutts, but they can’t last much longer. We are on a water meter so it would cost a fortune to water the garden with the hose, I will just have to pray for rain or do a rain dance!
One good thing about all our hot weather is the wonderful sunsets that we are having each evening.
How is your weather, is it affecting your garden?
What a pretty meadow, Pauline, and good to read about your wildlife. Gorgeous sunset too!
Glad you like it Cathy, I could do without the mole tunnelling away underneath though! I have had 2 days now with no new molehills, thank goodness, clearing them was my first job every morning!
Your meadow is marvelous! I love all the sweet blooms and the mowed path really does make it look planned. We usually get no rain between the beginning of July through October and are used to watering all summer, relying on melting snowpack in the mountains to supply summer water. After dry winters, when the snowpack is low, we’re asked only to water on certain days and times but we’ve had a couple of wet winters so water is plentiful.
As meadows go Peter, it is very tiny, but I like it al the same. We usually get rain on and off all summer, so this is very different for us in this country. In the NW the reservoirs are drying up and hosepipe bans have been introduced, we aren’t so bad down here in the SW, our reservoirs still have plenty of water for now.
How nice that your lawn turns into a wildflower meadow so quickly! I was just cutting the lawn this evening and thinking about just how many unattractive weeds make up what passes for turf here. I guess we don’t have as lawn-friendly a climate here, ours tends to encourage more aggressive, warm weather weeds
It only took a few weeks for the wild flowers to appear Frank, we have never used chemicals on it, so the flowers were able to grow as soon as I had made the decision to stop cutting. Another plus is that it stays a lot greener than the rest of the lawn round the house which is now a rather crispy brown!
Lovely to see your meadow Pauline and to hear about the properties of some of the wild flowers that gave them their names. And as you say, so good for the wildlife. I have the same problem with regular mole hills! We are lucky to have our own well so the garden in general is in reasonable shape. Surrounding fields are browning and some trees, especially birch, have already lost their leaves.
I don’t think I would dare to rely on wild flowers to cure my ills and aches Denise, but in those days they didn’t have any choice did they? Shhhhh…no mole hills for 2 days now, hopefully he has all the new tunnels he needs! My birch trees are shedding their leaves and also the horse chestnuts have made the woodland look as it it is November. We have rain forecast for tonight, but I’m not holding my breath, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Your grassy meadow is absolutely magical, Pauline. I think the path idea works well. I think do a rain dance. It may not help but it won’t hurt, and it’s probably good exercise!
Thank you Catmint, glad you like it. Yes, I think a rain dance is in order, just as well no one will be able to see me!
How utterly enchanting is your meadow! Eye candy and habitat.
Are all the wildflowers spontaneous? Or did you scatter some seed to start it off?
We are going thru an alarming dry patch – after a few weeks of normal autumn to winter rain.
Looking hopefully at our forecast from Thursday to Monday – rain all the way!
I’m so pleased that you like my mini meadow Diana. The wildflowers are all spontaneous, they are there all the time as we have never used weed killer on the lawn, its just that mowing every week chops the flowers off. By leaving areas unmown for a few weeks, its amazing what pops up!
I had hoped that your dry patch was over now that you are into your winter, sorry to hear that is not so. I do hope your forecast is correct, we actually had rain last night and the garden looks so much better for it already.
I love your little meadow, especially the self-heal. As far as I’m concerned, the less mowing, the better.
Thank you Jason, glad you like it! I believe crushed leaves of the self heal used to be mixed with wood ash to help stop the bleeding, I think I’ll stick to plasters!