It’s year two of my attempt to turn our front yard into a prairie meadow and native extravaganza. I scattered seeds in the fall of 2021 to cold stratify them, which is just a fancy word for refrigerate them. That fall and winter was incredibly windy and DRY. The first summer was not pretty. Cleome’s – the Rocky Mountain Bee Plant, came up and did really well, but they get really tall and the City of Littleton wasn’t a fan. A lot of weeds also came up and did really well too.
Still not beaten down by Year 1, I planted a few annuals with some native wildflower seeds in the Spring this year. We then left town for about two weeks in early June. We came back to what appeared to be a vacant lot – nothing was in bloom and it looked weed infested and was probably a week away from a notice on our door from the city to cut it all down. Feeling like failures, we mowed the whole thing down. I felt bitter and, honestly, a bit embarrassed. About a week or two later, an amazing thing happened. Native grasses and wildflowers started emerging after that first mow.
Even the first year, when the yard looked abandoned, we had a ton of bees and insects out there. When we had a lawn (such as it was), there really wasn’t a lot of life around it. The coolest thing about all of this for me has been seeing the abundance of insects who seemingly appeared out of nowhere and started working away outside.
I ordered more poppy seeds this year in different colors – they like to get cold over winter so I will scatter them next month. I’ve gathered strength in my patience skillset ever since starting this project. In 2021 I scattered a lot of native prairie grass seed. It sat dormant for an entire year. I like waiting on these plants even though I don’t like to wait on most things. The waiting and trusting is appealing to me. There’s not a lot in life you have to wait on anymore.
I’ve been using the iNaturalist app that I have on my phone to identify things as they come up.
The yard is dense and packed with different perennial grasses and perennial and annual wildflowers. I love seeing all the life; I love seeing bees, insects and butterflies all over the front yard. It’s really opened my eyes to the world. It is hard to get accustomed to seeing a traditional lawn area grown wild. Even though the plants individually are pretty, they are a bit unkempt when viewed at once. I think that it’s something I will gradually get used to. I think one of the keys is to try to keep the plants fairly low.
This type of gardening appeals to me. I like the willy-nilliness of it. You scatter seeds and a few years later, a plant you forgot you planted comes up. You scatter seeds hoping that something beautiful will come up, but something interesting comes up instead. I like that, to a certain extant, this is out of my control.
The Colorado Nest 
Laura – Great work ! It usually takes several years, and patience, to get what you are looking for. Stick with it ! You can’t be a perfectionist with that type of yard – you will have weeds that you will have to fight to keep them from taking over. But then every gardener has that issue. Your yard looks very good, especially considering how new your plantings are. The butterflies, bees, moths, wasps, birds, and all insects thank you. Take care,
Thanks for the encouragement Kay!
Looks amazing. Columbine is another great option and SO many colors available. They seed in really well. Borage is great in salads and on mixed drinks as garnish —tastes like cucumber—and so pretty!
That’s great to hear that Columbine seeds well. I just ordered some seed and will be planting the in our shady areas. Excited about that! Yes to the borage – completely new to me but I’ve been nibbling on it. ha!
What a journey!! Wow!! Friend, thank you for sharing all of this – the joy and frustration. It’s impressive and beautiful what has come up. And some life lessons in here too. Love it!
Thanks Julie!
I admire and very much like that this is your “BEAUTY which enchants you”! I’m a bit of a minimalist in the yard and garden, so planning on multi colored evergreens, rhodies, hydrangea and lavender too. Things that won’t require me to do “too” much maintenance, but I need a little more order than a suburban prairie… just saying. I will think of you when I plant some shasta daisies (a favorite with bees and butterflies) and lupines, because I loved the story of Miss Rumphius.
Lol, I hear you. I do have some shasta daisies coming, but they’ve been a little slooooowww. I had to look that book up! I never read it – it looks lovely. Our “garden” problem in the west is the extremes we have – extreme heat, cold, drought, etc so the native stuff def. does better. I miss hydrangeas and “Rhodies!” from our East Coast days!
Beautiful. I live in the High Desert of West Texas, and my yard [if it can be called that] if largely native grasses and wildflowers/weeds [often the same thing 😉 ] It was a drought year and so scant, but I Love it. Keep at it. Your yard is beautiful, and so much more natural and useful than turf.
Thanks Gwens – I bet your yard is lovely. I’m really coming around to the look and I think (hope) we’re going to start to see a lot more of it.