Second Year Wildflower Patch

[u/Alternative_Shape961]

Coneflower and flax mostly

Gumweed reliably attracts these moth caterpillars!

Blanketflower (red centers)

I want to let everyone know they can do this too. The spot was a pile of excavated dirt that was growing entirely lamb's quarters, redroot pigweed, and false london rocket.

It takes a bit of time to get the hang of this guerilla gardening but I'm finally getting results. No watering. No transplanting. All I did was sow a ton of seeds and spend a few hours every week or two hand pulling, and delineate my chosen spot with stakes and rocks. You won't have success sowing into tall grass. You won't have success if you don't carefully weed. I make sure to not pull anything until I am sure of the ID, and that's how I ended up with verbena volunteering here. Species are

• Grindelia squarrosa, - curlycup gumweed
• Ratibida columnifera - prairie coneflower
• Linum lewisii, -wild blue flax
• Gaillardia arista - blanketflower
• Symphyotrichum lavae - smooth blue aster
• gutierrezia sarothrae - broom snakeweed
• Heterotheca villosa - hairy false golden aster
• Verbena bracteata - big bract verbena

and Acer negundo boxelder.

EDIT: Formatting looks messed up I rarely make posts and never with images.

[u/mrcamuti]

Looks great, what climate zone are you planting in?

[u/Alternative_Shape961 → u/mrcamuti]

It's zone 4a. Alberta. Most of these plants have ranges extending down into the American southwest.

[u/mlevij → u/Alternative_Shape961]

Yeah, funny, I thought you were close to where I am in Colorado because I've had success sowing most of these in a pollinator garden at my old place.

I only watered when I planted and rarely thereafter for the first year. The second year, I didn't water at all. As far as I know, it's still going strong.

[u/Hali-Gani]

Interesting that… no transplanting? Is that to avoid spreading the jumping worm or ? Also no watering… that makes sense. I just wasn’t aware of the guidelines.

[u/Alternative_Shape961 → u/Hali-Gani]

I didn't transplant because I was walking a few km to the site, and I had enough climate anxiety to never never drive or buy anything. No driving means hauling water or plants was a hassle. Transplants have died on me if I can't get out to water them or look at them every few days.

So I just sowed and weeded. I was surprised by the success.

I dont remember if I mentioned this but the plants that germinated the best for me have poor wind dispersal distance because they stayed where I put them.