Wildflowers

I admit it.  I forgot about them.  The native wildflowers.  After constructing our Rain Garden, we had a beautiful bag of native wildflower seeds from Ernst Conservation Seed.  So we spread the seed around the area.

And forgot about them.

 This spring, folks in the office began asking "What are those red flowers over there?  We've not had those before, have we?"  Upon investigation (and intense work to recollect what happened) we realized that the native seeds we had casually strewn throughout the area had taken.  It's like a holiday here now - reds, pinks, blues, purples, whites, oranges.

No, the photos are not photoshopped.

Yes, the colors are as bright as you see, perhaps even brighter.  

It is a wonderful way to help conserve our water and soil, planting native seeds.  These wildflowers are perfectly suited to growing right here in Northwest PA.  Ernst Seed is very thorough in their selection of seeds, carefully harvesting them by hand from healthy flowers in the area.  Numerous collections of seeds are offered, such as lawn mix, wetland mix, meadow mix, riparian area mix, and so much more.  Check them out at http://www.ernstseed.com/.

These plants will absorb rain and runoff from storms, filter out pollutants from the water and the air, and also lessen the area to be mowed.  Imagine trading in all the work to mow a large area and instead, looking at this beautiful palette of colors!

At first we only saw a few brave red poppies.

Now others are joining the party and we can't wait to see what else arrives throughout the summer of 2013.  Even better, they are the gift that keep on giving.  The seeds from this year's flowers will spread themselves naturally and we plan on viewing a bigger show in 2014!