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.
Marta || lilmissboho.com says
February 9, 2017 at 10:10 amCan’t wait to see your meadow!
Red House Style says
February 9, 2017 at 10:21 amThis is going to look gorgeous! Can’t wait to see it in bloom!
jessvanderveen@gmail.com says
February 13, 2017 at 1:07 pmThanks, me too!
asnippetoflife says
February 9, 2017 at 10:57 amThis 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
jessvanderveen@gmail.com says
February 13, 2017 at 1:06 pmCacti sound like a lot less work!
Sophie Gillum-Webb says
February 9, 2017 at 12:09 pmYour plans sound wonderful and I am excited to see the result!
Sophie
x
http://www.sophobsessed.com
Ola Broom says
February 9, 2017 at 12:34 pmI 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.
jessvanderveen@gmail.com says
February 13, 2017 at 1:06 pmThey have some great stuff!
Diana says
February 9, 2017 at 1:13 pmIt’s going to look beautiful! I’m so jealous of all the land you have to play with! 🙂
Issy Fox says
February 9, 2017 at 2:56 pmI can’t wait to watch this develop, we don’t have a garden so I’m obsessed with other people’s outdoor spaces.
Style & Life by Susana says
February 9, 2017 at 6:38 pmThis 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/
jessvanderveen@gmail.com says
February 13, 2017 at 1:05 pmThanks!
Lidia says
February 10, 2017 at 9:04 amTheir seeds are fabulous! Love your plan btw!!
jessvanderveen@gmail.com says
February 13, 2017 at 1:05 pmThanks, I’m hoping the plan turns out as well as it looks in my mind!
Tena Thixton says
February 10, 2017 at 11:47 pmI 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!
jessvanderveen@gmail.com says
February 13, 2017 at 1:04 pmCan’t wait for spring too!
Edith says
February 11, 2017 at 9:47 pmI 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 🙂
jessvanderveen@gmail.com says
February 13, 2017 at 1:03 pmI also love huge fields of wildflowers
Maria Depenweiller says
February 12, 2017 at 8:18 amI do hope I win 🙂 need to renovate kids play corner this year.
Laurinda says
February 12, 2017 at 9:02 pmTruly can’t wait to see pictures
jessvanderveen@gmail.com says
February 13, 2017 at 1:03 pmThanks for visiting Laurinda!
Krista says
February 12, 2017 at 9:35 pmCant 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!!!
jessvanderveen@gmail.com says
February 13, 2017 at 1:02 pmoh boy, now the pressure’s on!
Jaime says
February 13, 2017 at 12:48 pmI love wild flowers
jessvanderveen@gmail.com says
February 13, 2017 at 1:02 pmThanks for stopping by!
Lindsey says
February 13, 2017 at 1:44 pmLooking forward to seeing how it looks in the spring!! Love the idea of having fresh cut flowers anytime, and just entered the giveaway!
jessvanderveen@gmail.com says
February 14, 2017 at 8:11 pmThanks Lindsey!
Tianna says
February 14, 2017 at 1:33 pmhow fun! hope you do an update when they bloom! have a good VDay! xx
jessvanderveen@gmail.com says
February 14, 2017 at 8:11 pmYes 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!
ee0926 says
February 14, 2017 at 3:20 pmHow 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
Casey @ House by the Bay says
February 15, 2017 at 10:34 amSo exciting! We’re hoping to plant more flowers this year in our side garden – it’s like a little meadow 🙂
Andrea says
February 15, 2017 at 12:42 pmOh I am so excited to see the finished product! It will be so beautiful!
Andrea Snow
snowbyheart.com
Leslie Rossi | alifewellconsumed says
March 1, 2017 at 2:02 pmI can’t wait to see how this turns out! I love flower meadows and just the thought of spring.
jessvanderveen@gmail.com says
March 1, 2017 at 2:30 pmI’m so looking forward to spring too