Wildflower Wednesday – Flowers in the Lawn

Pretty little mystery flower in the lawn

I’ve spent time the last three evenings on my hands and knees and sometimes on my butt planting bulbs for Glory of the Snow,  Chionodoxa gigantia (also known as Chionodoxa lucillia), in my back lawn.

I bought 1,000 bulbs of Glory of the Snow, which doesn’t take as long as you might think to plant. I timed my first 300 bulbs.  40 minutes.  Not bad.  After three sessions, I’m almost done planting these bulbs, which also don’t go as far as you might think in a great big lawn. It’s a good start, as they say.

Next I’ll plant 500 more corms of tommies, Crocus tommasinianus, in the back lawn to join the 2,000 tommies and other crocuses I’ve planted over the last several years.

Then if all goes according to plan, I’ll have a lovely lawn dotted with purple and white blooms in early spring.  First the crocuses will bloom and then Glory of the Snow will flower, and hopefully one or the other or maybe both will be at their peak on Easter, April 5th.

After that the grass will start to grow and the blooms in the lawn will be dandelions followed by clover. I love the clover. I tolerate the dandelions.

While I was planting the bulbs this evening, I ran across a tiny white, daisy like bloom in the lawn by the edge of the patio.  Pretty little thing, and tiny. Hardly bigger than the three leaves of a tiny clover.

I have no idea where it came from or what it is, other than a little daisy like bloom.  Bellis perennis, the English daisy? I don’t think so. English daisy is not a native flower for me, and it isn’t one I’ve ever planted here. And all the neighbors have traditional lawns, so where would the seed have come from?

Honestly, I don’t really care what the flower is, I’m just happy to have it in my lawn.  I’m leaving it and hoping it sets seed and starts a colony right there.  In my lawn.

It reminded me that earlier this spring, I received an alternative lawn mix of wildflowers from American Meadows to try in my garden.

As sometimes happens, sowing those seeds got caught up in the never-ending battle between must do, need to do, should do, and want to do. Oh, and like to do. It was in the battle, too. As I recall, sowing the wildflower seeds, along with many other wants, hopes, and dreams I had in the spring, lost out to must do, as most of the other “do’s” do.

But all is not lost and the seed will not go to waste. As luck would have it,  the lawn alternative wildflower seeds can also be sown in the fall after the first killing frost.  That’s good news for me. We haven’t had a killing frost yet.  I have time!

Once we have the killing frost,  I’m going to clear out the area just inside the vegetable garden gate, which right now is mulch, and sow these wildflower seeds.  Then later next spring, after the Glory of the Snow and the crocuses are all bloomed out in the big lawn, a little patch of low growing, lawn alternative wildflowers should be growing just inside the garden gate.

Then I’ll really have something to write about for Wildflower Wednesday, hosted by Gail of Clay and Limestone on the fourth Wednesday of the month.

I’m looking forward to it!