When is the last time you saw a meadow? Not a field of fescue, but a meadow with wild flowers and natural, warm season grasses? The kind of place that a butterfly would call home? There aren’t many around, you know, so my wife Nancy and I decided to make a meadow in our own back yard. It’s a mini meadow, really. Not very big, but it is a meadow of sorts with wild flowers of several varieties. The butterflies, bees and hummingbirds have made themselves right at home.
About three years back, Nancy got a pack of assorted wildflowers from a catalog as a bonus. After having dug up some unwanted ivy around our birdbath, she planted the wild flowers and they did wonderfully. At first she thought they were weeds, and they really are. Wildflowers are God’s weeds, and they are more beautiful than the most gorgeous domesticated flower. These wildflowers are all perennials and blossom at various times of the year. It is a most refreshing little spot. We have also planted some milkweed in our yard, a plant that Monarch butterflies need in order to exist. I saw our first Monarch last week. He almost lit on my shoulder.
If you have a little spot in your yard, consider a mini meadow of your own. Get a pack of assorted wildflower seeds and have at it. The creatures of your back yard will thank you for it, and the flowers are simply beautiful.