Timing is critical: renew too early and there might be some leftover seeds that the birds would have loved to eat. Too late, and you’ll be removing new growth as it starts at the end of winter. Then there’s rain: this meadow doubles as a rain garden, so if you cut too soon after a storm, you’ll be wading in ankle-deep water.
Since we installed the meadow, California asters have taken over. What started with a blend of grasses, lupines, yarrow and – yes – asters has become a sea of asters. They’re going to have to go, once we decide what we’ll plant in their place. We’re planning on favoring wildlife benefits over strictly native plants, too. So there may be more things favorable to honeybees and hummingbirds, even if they’re not native right here in Sacramento.
The meadow is a place to test mixed, naturalistic plantings, so anything that has the right cultural requirements, climactic adaptation and artistic qualities is fair game for inclusion.
This year, we left the weed whip in the garage and used hedge trimmers. They’re a bit harder on the back, but the project moves along better. There are no bits of broken string, no jammed spools, no running out of string, no cords to stretch across the yard, no dust and no pulverized plant mush on our pants. No flying gravel or stems, either. And it’s much easier to control the pruning shears to avoid things like roses and other plants that would prefer not being mowed down. When we’re done trimming, we just rake everything up and put it in a pile.
Current plant list
- carex praegracilis
- carex pansa
- muhlenbergia rigens (not mowed)
- chondropetalum elefantinum
- California aster
- Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
- Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa, dormant)
- Day lilies
- Hot Lips sage
- Roses (floribundas)
- Bronze fennel
- Karl Foerster grass
- Gaura
- Rushes (Juncus)
- Mule ears (Wyethia)
- Camas
- Euthamia occidentalis