I also do meadow gardening. I follow Piet Oudolf, the fellow who designed the Millenium Gardens of Chicago, Battery Park of NY, and so many other gardens. Link is below. I use many of the flowers you've shown and more. Like knautia macedonia, astrantia, pin cushin plants, joe-pye weed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Piet Oudolf

Oh my gosh- what wonderful colors. What is that fantastic purple flower spike?
Renee

Ianna -- YES! I am a Piet fan, too. We went to the Battery Gardens in NYC in June 2011 (link below of my photos). I fell in love with wild quinine and sowed seeds last fall...but, haven't seen (or failed to recognize) if I was successful Sometimes perennials take two years to be noticeable in my meadow garden. Since you like joe-pye, have you tried boneset (eupatorium perfoliatum)? It has lovely white blooms and isn't as tall as most of the joe-pye.

Renee - that purple is my favorite! It is meadow blazing star (liatris ligulistylis) and is loved by butterflies, hummingbirds and hummingbird moths.

Cameron

Here is a link that might be useful: my photos of The Battery Gardens in NYC

Meadow gardening intrigues me because I wonder if it is an easier way to get rid of grassy lawn and have a less time-requiring garden. I would still have my "main" garden that requires traditional work, but could I turn an area of the current lawn into a meadow garden and not have to spend as much time weeding? Basically, the question boils down to what do you do with grassy weeds in a meadow garden? Do you just let them go with the flowers, or do they all have to be weeded out to achieve that "natural" look? If you can leave the grass does it eventually choke the flowers or do the flowers and grass live in harmony?

I do know some meadow flowers here that hold up pretty well against the grass, like ox eye daisies.

I know I could find the answer myself with some time, but answering this first question will let me know if I should spend more time to investigate it further.

And, truly gorgeous pictures. I just love meadows and the wildflowers on the sides of interstates.

Deanna - my meadow garden was scraped off, hard-packed soil left from construction of our house. Since it borders our "HOA required" meadow grass, I had dump trucks of good soil brought in to use for my plantings.

I've been working on using self-sowing plants as much as possible in this garden. It's nearly impossible to get seeds going if the land is already in grass and weeds.

My weeding is minimal -- usually a few weeks of hard work in April takes care of it for the rest of the season with a few little weeds here and there. I don't use any weed-killers as I want to attract and host butterflies, bees, etc. Most of my weeds are clover because our grass is full of it!

The annuals and perennials that I use are now beginning to really get established, so they are shading the soil and preventing new weeds....except that early spring March time when weeds come up before "real plants"!

Cameron

Beautiful colors!

Ianna - Thanks for posting that link to Piet Oudorf, I just spent 30 minutes going through that site. Some amazing spaces. I have so much to learn!

I am suffering a serious case of garden envy! I have a bed full of the same types of flowers, along with creeping charlie, quack grass, thistle and I don't know what else. Yours looks so nice and neat! How do you manage to keep the weeds out while letting the desireable plants reseed and get established? I try that and end up with mostly weeds....along with more quack grass and creeping charlie....I seriously HATE creeping charlie

Jenny P

Jenny -

This garden gets full sun in summer from 7:00am until 8:00 pm, so I plant my perennials closer together than the recommended distances.

I weed a lot in April (March if warm enough), then apply 2" of organic compost to the top of the soil.

Most of the weeds tend to be at the top of the garden edges where it is prone to high summer heat, drought and thinner soil. There are very few in the thickly planted areas down the slope and virtually no weeds in the thick edging plants (nepeta, stachys, hardy ageratum, leucanthemum, Japanese iris) along the path.

In another thread of my Red & White garden that is heavy on the bee balm, the weeds are almost non-existent. I think it's due to the fact that the plants are so thick and mature now, so that the perennials crowd and shade out the weeds.

Cameron

Just looked at Piet Oudolf's website. Unreal. Really, almost makes you cry. You just feel a total harmonization with nature. I think I just became a meadow garden seeker!

Hi Cameron
When weeding that early how do you determine what is a weed, and what is a seedling? Well actually I know how to tell....most of the time.

Don't you cover your volunteers when putting down the compost? How tall are your plants at that point? I ask because up here my gardens are usually still under snow in March, they don't usually break dormancy until late April, into May. This year was different of course. SO asking what stage your garden is in when you do the work makes more sense to me.

I am thinking my beds are to small, there are more edges for weeds to sneak in through.

These all sound like beginner gardening questions, but I have been gardening in one form or another all my life, and I am in my 50's.

Oh thanks for the reminder, I need to go to town and buy some compost, my bins are all empty.....I just can't make enough!

Thank you for taking the time to answer.
Jenny P

When weeding that early how do you determine what is a weed, and what is a seedling?

When I see something that I don't recognize, I walk around our grassy meadow to see if there's a matching weed!

Don't you cover your volunteers when putting down the compost?

I'm sure that I cover some of the volunteers at this point, but the 2" of compost doesn't seem to deter rudbeckia, echinacea, shasta, amsonia, gaillardia...trying to think what else self-sows!

My fall-sown or self-sowing seeds, such as poppies, larkspur, nigella, cornflowers, rudbeckia, alyssum, dianthus, salvia nemorosa -- show themselves as seedlings here before winter.

We don't have the cold winters or the snow layers that you get in colder zones. My worst issue in winter is if it is too dry. The winter sun, even with temperatures in the 40-degree range, can scorch my seedlings. This past winter was so mild that I had a poor showing of seeds that need cold stratification...poppies, cornflowers and larkspur were especially thin this year.

Cameron

When I grow up I want to have a garden like Cameron's. So perfect. :)

Cameron,

I'm so happy to finally know someone else who is a fan of Piet Oudolf. I've gone nuts over his style for many years now. I have many of his books and his recommended plants including the boneset. I also have filipendula, thalictrum, the ornamental grasses, achillea, bronze fennel, phlox and so many other things.

I'm so envious that you have a large space to experiment with. I have a small space so I'm doing things in small scale, including the wave hedges he has.

Mandolls - glad your are hooked. Piet Oudolf is trying to ape the way the meadow looks from a distance. Waves of garden. There is a flow and when the wind blooms, there is movement. My garden although small attracts many visitors because it is so different.

Ianna

Putting down a layer of good compost soil is something I must learn to do. Sometimes a layer of shredded leaves alone isn't enough. "Meadow Garden", what a lovely description. I'm afraid my wild flower and weed patch doesn't compare.

Mine doesn't even begin to compare, schoolhouse; I planted Texas natives seeds last Fall, and can see I'll need to refine, although I did get success with the seeds which I don't usually do!

Appreciate the information about mulch; I didn't mulch that section of the flowerbed, but may do so this year.

Ianna - I grow bronze fennel, but the plants are seedlings from last year, so not tall enough to make a showing in my meadow garden yet. Stipa (Mexican feather grass) is my "go to" grass there as it remains shorter than other grasses and I can literally "comb" out the seeds and put them exactly where I want to grow more plants. It may be short-lived in my zone.

Schoolhouse - I used to just call it the deer resistant garden, but I have other sections that are also deer resistant, so I needed to refer to this section with something more descriptive. My vision here is to have self-sowing natives dominate over hybrid cultivars, but I still include cultivars. This is an area that gets harsh summer sun from sunrise to sunset. I need survivors here!

Ogrose - I don't use hardwood mulch here, just compost (cow) to encourage the seeds.

I posted a question on the "Seed Saving Forum" but no one has answered. Maybe you folks can help.

I bought seeds last year, but want to collect seeds from ratibida columnifera. How can I tell when these are ready? A few blooms have now dropped their petals and I want to get to the seeds before the Goldfinch! :-)

Thanks,
Cameron

{{gwi:709903}}

Source: definingyourhome.blogspot.com via Freda on Pinterest

Here is a link that might be useful: native wildflower ratibida columnifera

IF you do figure out how to collect the seeds, would you consider sharing? I think I NEED (lol) to add some of these to my "shed bed" which holds liatris, rudbeckia, grey headed coneflower and more. I know I can go find seed for next year at a retailer, but it's more fun to get them from someone.

IF you do figure out how to collect the seeds, would you consider sharing?

Unfortunately, I have only that one plant and only 7 blooms so I'll be lucky to save a few seeds this year! The Goldfinch are biting hunks out of the cones!

I'm totally in love this wildflower and not sure of seed-collecting success, so I will buy more seeds just be sure I have it again next year. I really like it with the rudbeckia.

Ahh makes sense, for some reason I had the impression you had multiple plants. I will look for a seed source then.
Thanks
Jenny P

Sorry, I can't help with the seed collecting question, but have you asked on the Winter Sowing forum? This kind of question is right up their alley.

Love your garden Cameron! Being a big fan of both meadows and Piet Oudolf, the style appeals to me. I think your garden is a very pretty interpretation of that style. Trying for a meadow of self sown natives and hybrid cultivars is something I have wanted to do for a long time, but I don't have the property to do it, so I love looking at yours.

Also enjoyed your photos and report on The Battery Park. I haven't traveled to a garden in a long time but I would like to see this garden and the High Line in NY sometime soon. Thanks for posting these.

I imagine you've read the book Meadows by Christopher Lloyd? Great photos and inspiration there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Meadows by Christopher Lloyd

Cameron,

I love the ratibida columnifera also. Try putting an old stocking over blooms that you wish to collect seeds from. That should do it.

Also, I have ornamental grasses like Korean Feather Grass - which I really like. It's leaves are softer. Also I have the Chinese pennisetum. It's quite tall though and in my small space it can get cramp fast. I love it though.

Other plants I added to my 'meadow garden' are salvia cordona, achilleas (for the umbrell types); echinacea (daisy types), Jerusalem sage (phlomis), and amid all these perennials (there are many more), I sprinkled annual wildflowers. The one thing that Piet Oudolf also popularized was the way he used hedges to backdrop his plants. Check out his garden in Humelo to see what I mean. He also used different colours of sages. grouping deep blues and light blues. Then pink sages. Infact he loves sages so much he has created his own pink sage and named if after his wife.

Prairiemoon2 - I've not seen the High Line, but my husband was suggesting a hotel with a view of it if we go (not likely this summer) to NYC. Yes, Christopher Lloyd and Piet Oudolf are inspirations to me. I used to try to keep my garden sectioned by color scheme, strictly prohibiting yellow and white in the largest section based on pink and purple. After several years of drought, I decided to "go wild" with anything that would self-sow and survive in my full sun deer resistant garden! This is the first year with all those rudbeckia and daisies! I'm happier with the results.

Ianna - a stocking, of course! I thought about organza bags since I have a few that held jewelry.

I have salvia 'Caradonna' and it self-sows. Right now, it is just foliage as it bloomed the first time in April here and was cut back.

My favorite achilleas are 'Pomegranate' and 'Terracotta'. 'Pomegranate was just cut back this morning and 'Terracotta' is slow to bloom this year as I had to divide and move it from an area that had finally gotten some shade. It should be back big time next year.

Oudolf's blue sages in the Chicago gardens (I've only seen photos) look like a river. My nemorosa sages (I have several varieties other than 'Caradonna') bloom early here in April and don't rebloom again with such drama in the heat of our summer.

I love hedges as backdrops!

We do have a mixed evergreen hedge on the east side, but is set back from my gardens with enough width to allow me to drive the truck around the outside of the garden.

Each end of the meadow garden has "bookends" of shrubs/trees to separate and define it from the other gardens.

We also are growing a holly hedge in the gravel garden that we created last year. In another 2 years, it should be a solid wall of green. There is also a hedge of buddliea and a low hedge of rosemary in the gravel garden.

There is a hedge of oakleaf hollies, osmanthus fragrans, gold mops and cryptomeria that separates and backdrops the waterfall patio garden to provide privacy.

Cameron

Cameron,
I would love for my cardona sages to self sow, but they have never done this. I do have salvia nemerosa midnight and a pink one too. I tried to make it flow following the 'river' of blue style of the Millenium garden, but because I have such a tiny space, that is not possible. I want to find the tother sages used in the Millenium garden. The Millenium garden does list the plants they used online.

I;ll have to look into your creations more to see what else you have created. I'm excited to see what you've done.
Piet Oudolf used hedges to create pillars and columns. he also used such plant materials like climbing hydrangea growing on a trellis to create a hedge... he really thinks out of a box (no pun intended)

Cameron, I enjoy purples and pinks most of all too, and limited amounts of yellow and white with it. I tend to stay away from orange and red unless they are blooming alone at a certain time of year or in their own little corner. I have an 'Orange Mandarin' Honeysuckle that blooms before all the pink coneflowers,purple verbena, purple buddleia and white hydrangea start in that bed. That's about the only orange I have and the closest I have to red is a fuchsia azalea. I added Heliopsis for the first time this year to my sun bed and I am enjoying that. I use that instead of Rudbeckia.

I do wonder about your daisies. I had daisies that had a short bloom season and needed deadheading after that, so I removed them because that just didn't work for me. How are you working with yours and what kind are they? They are nice and tall. And I have that Liatris ligulistylis and mine looks a little different color. I bought mine at High Country Gardens. Did you use another source?

I have seen lots of photos of the High Line and those people who have it close enough to walk it in their neighborhood or where they work, are so lucky. I live near Boston and they just did a 'Greenway' in the city and it is developing into a nice space, but I was disappointed they didn't use Piet Oudolf.

Ianna - I'm not that skilled in the garden!

Prairiemoon2 - I have three kinds of daisies (maybe 4?) and all have been blooming since May 23 (according to my photos).

The tall ones could be either 'Alaska', but could be 'Becky' but I've long lost track of where I sowed seeds! I have had to deadhead only those that some brown bugs (look like stinkbugs) have been hitting. They haven't needed staking and the foliage is outstanding.

I also have shorter 'Broadway Lights' that line the path. This is the best year of bloom and I just cut off the stems as soon as I see the edges of the yellow centers turning brown....they keep on blooming! Like the taller ones, the foliage is lush and gorgeous, too.

I also have 'Palladin' a double ruffle that is also putting on a big show this year, and they are slightly taller than the Broadway Lights.

We've had an unusual June of PERFECT WEATHER UNTIL TOMORROW! It's been cool, low humidity and ample rainfall. We'll see what happens as we enter 5 days of 100+, starting tomorrow.

I bought my liatris from LazySSFarm in Virginia (mailorder). That is an evening photo, so the color looks much more blue-purple than when photographed in full sun.

I have a "Red & White" section and an adjacent "Orange & Yellow" section that is separated from the meadow garden by a willow tree, buddleia, itea, cotoneaster and cleyera.

Broadway Lights starts out pale yellow and slowly turns white. This photo was taken on May 25 and the blooms haven't stopped coming. Many more than shown here:

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Source: definingyourhome.blogspot.com via Freda on Pinterest

SAME CLUMP of Broadway Lights, photo taken on June 4:

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Source: definingyourhome.blogspot.com via Freda on Pinterest

All so very lovely, to be able to wander through your garden what a treat that would be, thanks for sharing.

Annette

I have to disagree with your assessment of your garden skill level. You do a great job! :-)

And I think you must have great conditions for Shasta daisies, either that or I have less than great conditions. I've tried Alaska and Becky and had less than 3 weeks bloom and the foliage was awful. I also had barely any rebloom on either after deadheading. That was my first experience with Shastas and I haven't tried them since.

Do you have a sandy soil or a poor soil conditions for your meadow plants? I'm working with a loamy clay. Well.. what works in one garden just doesn't always work in another, I guess. I may try them one more time. But I will look forward to your photos when you post....gorgeous!

Our growing season has been great this year too. Everything is about 3 weeks early in my garden. I've also seen a reduction in the usual insect damage, which I wonder if it was our mild winter with no snow cover that is responsible.

Thanks for sharing!

WBHW, The ratibida columnifera should re-seed quite nicely. It is a native wild flowere here in NM where it goes by the more common name of Mexican Hat. The yellow ones are also quite lovely.

Your meadow garden is quite lovely. Part of my ultimate plan is to have a meadow and just cut a path through it to a sitting area ringed with trees. Alas, in order to do that, I have to dig up a lot of sagebrush which will likely take years. I may just need to make a plan of digging a sage, amending that hole and putting a plant in or some seeds.

I agree. You are a very skilled gardener. You can design gardens.

Everyone - I've noticed something odd. Plants I normally would expect to bloom in July - August are already in full bloom now (and blooming all at once). I do wonder what my garden will offer in late July and August then. What have you observed in your gardens

ianna, I was just thinking of posting a thread on that topic, as I have Perovskia in full bloom already and it's only the beginning of July. The bloom is not going to last until August even and although it still looks great after bloom, I was wondering the same thing. I have Echinacea blooming it's head off and that doesn't usually last all summer even with deadheading. Butterfly Bush is just starting to bloom and I think that will bloom right up until frost. I am considering offering another round of fertilizer which I don't normally do. Heliopsis is new to me, so I'm not sure what to expect from that. I do have Chrysanthemums and have been tip pruning them. I am still going by the advice to stop tip pruning by July 4th, so maybe that will keep me on time with the bloom of Mums? I have roses and wondering if I will get another flush of bloom on those. It will be a learning year, I guess. But for right now, I am happier with my sunny beds than I have been for a few years.

prairiemoon, you should start a new thread. We are coming into a new type of climate and it would help to know what to expect.

Ianna