Mid Atlantic Wildflower

2023-06-30 Adults

I filled my first Birdie Raised Garden Bed from Epic Gardening and thought that growing a patch of native flowers would be a great test. I bought a 1/4 lb bag of Northeast Pollinator Wildflower Seed Mix from American Meadows and when it arrived, I sprinkled the seeds on top of the soil in my garden bed, lightly pressed them into the soil, and watered them thoroughly. This mix has perennials and annuals. The perennials should come back for springs and summers for years to come, and I’ve saved some seeds for next year so I can add more annuals.

I didn’t actually write down when I cut back the dead flower stems, but it’s close enough. I read that keeping them over the winter helps keep snow above the bed and trap some moisture for the perennials, but we don’t really get much snow in Baltimore, so I’m not sure it did anything. Now that it is almost spring, I want to make sure there is enough room for new growth. I also sprinkled the remaining wildflower seeds from the batch I bought last year on over the bed with the goal of filling in any space left by the annuals that died over the winter.

I found some zinnia seeds in my seeds collection and decided to plant them. I buried a few about 1/4" deep in groups of 3 and sprinkled the remaining seeds randomly over the bed. Then I gave the entire bed a lot of water.

The first blossoms started to flower today!

There were some very tall flowers blooming, so I pruned some of them so I could put them in a vase inside my home. To trim them, I counted up 3 leaf nodes from the bottom of the plant and snipped the stem just above the 3 node.

Some of the flower buds opened up when I brought them inside, but most of them didn’t fair too well.

A big red poppy and a few smaller pinks ones started appearing. They are a nice surprise!