Tag: Wildflowers in northern Minnesota

I did not plant this abundance

Up at the camping land there is a whole lot I did not plant and I do not need to keep cultured. Of particular wonder are thousands and thousands of wildflowers.

It wasn’t always that way. If fact, the first year we owned the land, we showed up one night to a shock – the trail in and the whole campsite was wall-to-wall ferns. It had grown to 4′ tall in a few weeks. It was 1:30 in the morning. We went to bed and dealt with it the next day.

I remember back then we hadn’t even brought a mower yet. The ferns have very strong stems so we used the brush saw. That, however, was arduous, so not too long afterward, a weekend’s rental of a brush mower to work on all the trails followed. It was a dramatic difference. We were concerned for a bit that we had gone too far. But 1/2 hour after cleaning the trails, the trailcams showed deer eating again. They loved it.

The trails now are not at all fern covered. If left unmowed they are wall-to-wall wildflowers. The deer can be seen going side to side, back and forth, eating dandelions early in the season, and then wildflowers.

The ferns are still in the woods – over 4′ tall and lush.

Simplicity – or is it?

The  beauty and scope of the plants up north continue to amaze us, and sometimes surprise us.  Wide swaths of woodland ferns, wildflowers, ground cover, wild strawberries, wild roses, you name it.  But no hope for a structured garden – unless that is how we want to spend all our time up there, which we don’t.

Last year I set up two raised bed gardens as our year 1 test garden.  I was so unprepared for the results.  The asclepias and the asparagus seem to have survived.  Beyond that, let’s just say I wish I had that money back.  I cannot keep pace with all the things that continually take over that space.  And I have learned that is not bad.  It’s just different.

The wildflowers are happily blooming right now.  Here’s a truly delightful clump of wild daisies – right next to the “delightful” crop of woodland plants that continually take up residence in the raised bed gardens.

20200627_160424

The daylily seedlings I planted in spring do not seem to have survived, but perhaps next year I will be surprised.  The iris I planted did survive, so maybe.  But I am not optimistic.

Two new wildflowers to us right now are orange hawkweed, and spreading dogbane.  Here’s a picture of the spreading dogbane.  

20200628_211132

It smells glorious, and the bees love it!  We just need to keep our dog away from it.

Final consensus for this year – I’m done “planting” up north.  We’ll continue to see what’s already there, and see what comes up next year.