My favorite part of winter is that it means spring is just around the corner. And spring means flowers. Flower add so much color and softness to a home and can do great things for curb appeal. I haven’t put a lot of effort into my gardens over the last few years because we moved so often. Now that we are finished building and plan to live in this house for a long time, it’s time to make some long term landscaping plans. One of my plans is to grow a wildflower meadow in the front corner of our property. I just love the idea of having a whole field filled with beautiful flowers, and being able to go out and fill a vase with my own cut flowers.
Location
Pictured below is the area that we’re going to plant the meadow. We have 30 acres of land that are mostly treed, except for a couple acres right at the front of our property. This clearing at the front corner of the property is about 1/4 acre. I think it’s the perfect location for a wildflower garden. It’s right along the road, and will be the first thing we will see when we come home.
There is a path in the far corner of this clearing that connects the front yard with the back yard…
…and down that path are beehives that are kept on the neighboring property. In case you didn’t know it yet, bees are kind of important. Planting wildflowers is a great way to increase the bee population. I’m also hoping that the bees will pollinate my flowers and I’ll get lots of blooms, so it’s a win win!
The Seed
For my wildflower meadow I will be starting all the flowers from seed. I love getting seed catalogues in the mail in the winter. They are so colorful and filled with beautiful pictures. I like to flip through them and circle everything that I would love to grow.
For my wildflower meadow I wanted to grow a mix of perennials and annuals. This hopefully will ensure a variety of long term color year after year, and some flowers that will grow quick and provide instant color this year. My color scheme is mostly purples, white and pinks, with bits of yellow and orange too. So for my garden I chose Alaska Shasta Daisy, Hidcote Blue Lavender, Cheyenne Spirit Echinacea, Bird and Butterfly Mix, and Cottage Garden Wildflower Mix. Both of these wildflower mixes have a variety of perennials and annuals in them. Vesey’s was so kind as to give me the seeds that I will be using for my garden.
There’s growing instructions on the back of the seeds packages, but also a lot of information on Vesey’s website. I plan to grow some of the seeds indoors about two months before planting. Generally a good time to plant outdoors is when there’s no risk of frost, so I will wait until the end of May. Stay tuned for another post in the early spring about how to plant a wildflower meadow!
Giveaway
If you are looking forward to spring and thinking about getting a head start on your garden or wildflower meadow, Vesey’s is giving away a $25 gift certificate that can be used towards any of their products. Go to their website and take a look at all their beautiful flowers, $25 goes a long way in getting started! You can also sign up for their free catalogue.
To enter the giveaway there are four options: subscribe to get new posts from The Vanderveen House by email, visit my Facebook page, visit Vesey’s facebook page, or comment on this post with what you would use the Vesey’s gift certificate for.
The giveaway will run from February 9 until midnight on February 26, and is open for Canadian and US residents.
Can’t wait to see your meadow!
This is going to look gorgeous! Can’t wait to see it in bloom!
Thanks, me too!
This sounds amazing! I’m more of a cactus girl but just imagining this meadow full off beautiful flowers, it’s for surely gonna look great.
Lea, xx
asnippetoflife.com
Cacti sound like a lot less work!
Your plans sound wonderful and I am excited to see the result!
Sophie
x
http://www.sophobsessed.com
I really need to get crackin’ with my garden plans. Last year I didn’t do much at all. I’ll be sure to check out this vendor to see what else they have to offer.
They have some great stuff!
It’s going to look beautiful! I’m so jealous of all the land you have to play with! 🙂
I can’t wait to watch this develop, we don’t have a garden so I’m obsessed with other people’s outdoor spaces.
This sounds like it going to be so beautiful! I can’t wait to see how it turns out x
http://www.susanalopessnarey.com/boohoo-swimwear/
Thanks!
Their seeds are fabulous! Love your plan btw!!
Thanks, I’m hoping the plan turns out as well as it looks in my mind!
I LOVE wildflower’s, like you, I just moved and have a lot of room for my wildflowers! I would use the Vesey’s Seeds to make my house a home! I can’t wait to see how your’s turns out! Waiting for some spring photos!
Can’t wait for spring too!
I am a fan of wildflowers! I love the huge fields and we just got rid of a huge tree in our back yard so it left the perfect area to fill in with wild flowers. Even if I don’t win I hope to get that project done this spring 🙂
I also love huge fields of wildflowers
I do hope I win 🙂 need to renovate kids play corner this year.
Truly can’t wait to see pictures
Thanks for visiting Laurinda!
Cant wait to draw from your wisdom Jessica. I tried a few years ago and only very few flowers came up. Pete is a bee keeper so I would love more sucess in this area!!!
oh boy, now the pressure’s on!
I love wild flowers
Thanks for stopping by!
Looking forward to seeing how it looks in the spring!! Love the idea of having fresh cut flowers anytime, and just entered the giveaway!
Thanks Lindsey!
how fun! hope you do an update when they bloom! have a good VDay! xx
Yes I’m hoping to do an update in the summer. Hopefully it won’t be a complete failure and I will have some nice blooms!
How fun!! I would love to have a meadow! I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
xx, Elise
http://www.sparkleandslippers.blogspot.com
So exciting! We’re hoping to plant more flowers this year in our side garden – it’s like a little meadow 🙂
Oh I am so excited to see the finished product! It will be so beautiful!
Andrea Snow
snowbyheart.com
I can’t wait to see how this turns out! I love flower meadows and just the thought of spring.
I’m so looking forward to spring too