Back in the autumn of 2022, I decided to turn over a small patch of my garden to grow wild flowers in the hope of encouraging wildlife into my garden. They grew well, and last year, I had a wonderful display of cornflowers, chickory, poppies, and numerous other flowers. They looked great. However, I was reluctant to cut them down. This year, only two species came up. Clover and chickory.
The clover was a thug of a plant and smothered out most of the other flowers. So I cut the plants back and sowed some more wildflower seeds where I had cleared.
As for the chicory, I wasn't sure what it was. All winter, it grew and looked like some type of leafy salad, although I wasn't sure what it was, so I thought it best not to eat any of it. Then, around late April, it started to send out shoots, which reached about 8 feet tall and flowered. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, they were blown over by the wind.
So I cut them back hard and planted some more wildflower seeds in the spaces they were covering. The chickory has grown a few more flowers since then, but these are much lower, and the plants aren't dominating the whole patch of the garden.
It has taken a few weeks, and because I reseeded quite late, I wasn't sure if any of the seeds I planted would germinate in time for summer. But I needn't have worried. Over the last few weeks, they have germinated, grown, and started to flower.
There are still a few patches of bare earth in the area, with small seedlings, but I'm hopeful that they will grow to maturity before the cold weather arrives. What I have learnt is that if I want to have a good diverse display of wildflowers, strangely, I will need to garden the wildflower patch. Either by removing and cutting back the more thuggish plants, digging up small areas and reseeding, or by being brutal and cutting the area back hard after the plants have gone to seed and raking over the ground. I haven't decided which option to take yet.
As for attracting more wildlife, that will have to be the subject of another post.
Photo Credit: All photos were taken by me using my Galaxy phone.