White clover, larkspur, primrose and echinacea. Getting ready to scatter the crimson clover, vetch and winter rye this week as well as some delphinium, and more echinacea -- if it dries up enough for me to walk behind my house. The white clover already has true leaves and the primrose has sprouted. I'm thinking about scattering some lupine (blue bonnet) too.

I'm trying to replace my bermuda and crabgrass with no or low-mow alternatives. I'd love to have a lawn carpeted in white and red clover! I'm sure my fruit trees would love it too.

Red clover is a great groundcover for orchards. I forgot about the Bunny larkspur, I think from Janie. There was also some nigella in that package and they went out too. I'm going to try not to "plant" so much this coming year and just see what happens. I've also decided to wintersow in place, using the container covers on the ground. I figure enough leaves to mulch and it won't be too tacky. But hey, the neighbors never complained about the old chair still sitting on the porch of the rental next door....

I don't quite have an orchard, but I'm working on it. As of right now I have three apple trees, and as soon as I get all the tangled brush cleared from behind the house I'm adding some fig, peach and cherry trees. I'm also considering grapes. I guess I'm going to have to make some time to start canning and freezing in the next few years. The red clover will be great for my mini orchard.

How do you keep the grass and weeds out of your clover? My Mom would love to start an orchard area behind her house, but the weeds and grass are so bad, even when you dig them all out, they come right back again. Did you spray first? She doesn't want to do that, since she prefers organic gardening, but those weeds are a challenge! Thanks for any suggestions :)

The best way to control weeds organically is to overseed every year until the weeds just can't compete with the clover. Here in NC, the clover is a winter crop. It will die out in the heat of summer. I've got annuals that will take its place. In some cases, I'll even dead head it to keep it from reseeding.

I didn't know cosmos could go out in the fall. I've always sown mine in the spring, and then it takes so long for it to bloom.

So far, I've sown several kinds of poppies, larkspur, echinacea, columbine, lettuce, spinach, bunching onions & snap peas.

I sow cosmos all year long. I just toss them where I want them next year. Some have germinated, and obviously won't be with us next year, but I have so many orange cosmo seeds, losing a few won't make a big difference.

I have added amended soil in areas where I will soon sow my fall seeds. I moved so many plants around that I needed to add the extra soil, but it is going to make it easier to keep my seeds from washing down the slope.

BACHELOR'S BUTTON, BLUE BOY
BACHELOR'S BUTTON, RED BALL
BACHELOR'S BUTTON, SNOWMAN
Centranthus ruber 'Alba'
Centranthus ruber 'Rosyred'
Convolvulus 'Ensign Blue' dwarf (free seeds)
Dalea purpurea (Purple Prairie Clover)
Eryngium amethystinum
GAILLARDIA, BURGUNDY
GAILLARDIA, YELLOW QUEEN
Larkspur 'Galilee Blue'
LARKSPUR, BLUE SPIRE
LARKSPUR, LILAC SPIRE
LARKSPUR, WHITE KING
Linum narbonense 'Heavenly Blue' (Blue Flax)
Nigella damascena 'Miss Jekyll Blue' (Love-in-a-Mist)
Papaver rhoeas 'American Legion' (Flanders Poppy)
Salvia farinacea 'Blue Bedder'
Veronicastrum virginicum (Culver's Root)

Gathered seeds from my garden or from friends:

Asclepias incarnata
Asclepias tuberosa
Castor Bean
Society Garlic

I will continue to gather seeds from plants in the my garden (echinacea, hyacinth bean, zinnias, cosmos, marigolds).

Cameron

Isn't seed scattering great Cameron? I'm hoping you'll try wintersowing this year. Many of my perennials bloomed the first year as they germinated during a warm spell in January. It works really well for our zone.