Please include more wildflowers and native plants in your garden. Chosen well, these plants, more so than many others, seem to survive, if not thrive, in a wider range of weather extremes.
In my own garden, the black-eyed Susans, Rudbeckia hirta, anchor one end of a new garden border designed and planted with mostly native plants that bloom in late summer. I believe…
Garden fairies here! Goodness, you can thank us later for rescuing this post. We have no idea where Carol was headed with her thoughts but whew, we are garden fairies and we almost fell asleep reading it.
So, we garden fairies are going to save this Wildflower Wednesday post which is sponsored by Gail at Clay and Limestone and tell you the truth about wildflowers and native plants in the garden.
The truth is… everyone should have some wildflowers and native plants in their gardens. They seem to survive and even thrive in these hot, dry summers around here. We are garden fairies, do not question us on this.
And do not tell us that we just wrote the same thing as Carol. We are garden fairies, those are our own thoughts and we thought of it first. We are garden fairies.
We are also very busy garden fairies so we have no time to convince you to include wildflowers and native plants in your own garden. Instead we will just threaten you with years of misery and heartache in your garden if you don’t include some natives and wildflowers. You don’t want that! Trust us…
We are garden fairies.
Signed,
Thorn Goblinfly, Chief scribe for the garden fairies at May Dreams Garden
Dear Thorn, well said, even if Carol had just said the same thing. Wildflowers should be in everyone's gardens!
Fairegarden Fairies
Thorin, don't worry–you don't need to come and put a curse on me! This hot, dry summer has proven once again the value of natives. I agree, every garden needs some wildflowers!
Dear Thorn-I have many wildflowers wildly scattered throughout my vegetable garden. The garden fairies are delighted! (I am,too) Sue
Dear Thorn, May I call you that? Would you please be WW's publicist! We need someone with your assertiveness to get the word out. Seriously, who needs the hassle, I mean grief, no I misspoke, I meant who needs to make their garden fairies unhappy. Plant more wildflowers will be your rallying cry. xxoogail
Dear Thorn: Not to worry and there is no reason to place a "Garden Curse" on anyone. I certainly don't want to anger the garden fairies! I have plenty of native plants in my totally organic garden. They are lovely and easy to care for and have come through our long, hot summer just fine. Making sure that my garden is always mulched, and watered when needed, has also been the reason why everything is my garden has thrived this season.
Mary Murphy a/k/a Garden Gal
My those garden fairies are bossy! Nothing says summer like black-eyed susans. They bring back such happy memories.
Dear Thorn,
So… Does it matter if those native flowers – like, say, rudbeckia – are not exactly native to the country – like, say, Denmark – where you do your gardening?
(Also, I believe we don't have garden fairies in northern Europe. We have gnomes… Of course, my parents lived on Elvendale Road (Elverdalsvej), so they probably also had elves in their garden, though I never really got a good look at them.)
Dear Thorn, you are a bit rambunctious today my little friend. I can see why garden fairies want more native wildflowers. It's no fun to perch beneath something which is dead from the heat. See you soon.~~Dee
Here in the Seattle area, where we get less than an inch of rain per month in the summer, our natives pretty much cope with our summer drought by going dormant and/or looking like hell. They're good in a spring garden, but a summer garden, not so much.
Deirdre
PS Our garden fairies pretty much cope by going dormant, too, napping in the shade a lot. I won't comment on their appearance. It wouldn't be kind.
well, garden faries, I personally think Carol just listens to you and then pretends that she comes up with all this stuff on her own.
Dear Garden Fairies,
Such wise advice to plant wildflowers. So little fuss, compared to other fussier plants. And so many are just plain pretty, like your rudbeckia. I have wonderful echanacea and goldenrod (who would have thought when I grew up that you could buy cultivars). I hope my garden fairies are happy, they are the shy, silent types.
Yael
PS, I wanted to share with carol and the fairies, how much I have been enjoying your blog and your garden fairies and cast of characters in the garden. I have been linking to you for some time now and wondered if you would consider linking to my site. I would truly be honored if you did.
You can find my site at Home Garden Diggers – http://www.HomeGardenDiggers.com
Thanks Yael
I really like you post. I really want to see Wildflowers in everyone's gardens.
Thank you.
Katie