I can hardly believe that 5 years have passed since the first Wildflower Wednesday meme post. I want to thank each of you for joining me on my continuing journey to create the best wildlife garden possible.
At first I wasn't sure what I wanted to do to celebrate this anniversary and then it occurred to me that I could share that first official Wildflower Wednesday post with some updated text and photos. So that's what I've done. If you like you can link back to earlier Wildflower Wednesday posts by clicking on the plant name.
Here it is~a trip back in time to February 2010, with a
bit a lot of tweaking!
Almost thirty years ago we moved to what has since been christened Clay and Limestone Garden. Long time readers know that the relationship between gardener and garden has been a passionate affair, filled with moments of deep love and equally deep despair.
It was a long time before I was able to accept the limitations and gifts of the shallow, clay soil that is as dry as concrete most summers and wet and sticky all winter. (
here for more of the story)
Even in the face of over whelming evidence that wildflowers naturally occurred and thrived here, I tried to create an English cottage garden, a Mediterranean garden and a New England woodland. They were failures and I despaired that there would ever be a garden.
In my haste to create these idealized dream gardens I had over looked the native ex-asters, mistflower, columbines, trout lilies, trilliums, mayapples, downy woodmint, Blue-eyed grass, False garlic, penstemons, dicentras and a host of other beauties that were already growing here.
It was a wonderful day when I stumbled upon Thomas Hemmerly's
Wildflowers Of The Central South.
I've never had the honor of meeting Dr Hemmerly*, but, he became my garden mentor and helped me understand and appreciate the special native plants that grow in Middle Tennessee. He introduced me to concepts that were important to know if I were to have any success at gardening. I learned that Middle Tennessee was part of the Central Basin, that it has very interesting wildflowers that grew nowhere else, and that the rock in my garden is an Ordovician limestone bedrock overlain with thin soil. I finally understood that plants have to be rugged to survive in my garden and that planting native wildflowers made the most sense, after all, they had evolved and adapted to our wet winters and dry summers.
Once my eyes were opened, it was easy to see that on the edges of the garden, beyond, the weedy lawn, were wonderful wildflowers and abundant wildlife.
My head and heart were quickly filled with all things wildflower. I devoured articles about native plants, visited cedar glades, read botany articles and every book I could lay my hands on that discussed gardening in the
Central Basin.
Before long, it became clear to me and my gardening friends, that wildflowers had become my garden soul mates. Of course, when you have a relationship like that you want to share it with the world!
Wildflower Wednesday started out as a regular post to celebrate the wildflowers in my garden. I was hoping that there were other gardeners who also felt that wildflowers were special and wanted to share them. There are and you're all delightful.
Many years later~I've met wonderful gardeners, made new friends, learned to write a little bit better, and have learned a few valuable gardening lessons. If there's one thing I would like to pass along to new gardeners, it's this:
What ever you do, don't fight your garden's unique characteristics or ignore its plant communities. Embrace them. If your garden is rocky, sandy, slow draining, fast draining, acidic or alkaline, a desert, a cold climate or even tropical, what ever climate, where ever in the world, there are native wildflowers, shrubs and trees that will be perfect for your garden. They will not only survive, they will thrive. Trust me, you will be a happier person and have greater success at gardening.
Finally, here's my promise to you~ If you plant wildflowers the critters will come! Your garden will be filled with buzzing bees, singing birds, fascinating insects and spiders and fluttering butterflies. You'll also be a host to snakes, raccoons, squirrels, turtles, chipmunks, hawks, owls, and rascally rabbits and who knows what else!
Native wildflowers are good for the earth and good for its inhabitants. Now kick up your heels and dance with The Dancing Tree! Happy anniversary to all of you and let's continue celebrating our wildflowers.
xoxogail
Wildflower Wednesday is about sharing wildflowers and other native plants no matter where one gardens~the UK, tropical Florida, Europe, Australia, Africa, South America, India or the coldest reaches of Canada. It doesn't matter if we sometimes share the same plants. How they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most.
I hope you join the celebration..It's always the fourth Wednesday of the month!
*BTW, I have finally gotten to meet Dr Hemmerly!
Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at
Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.
