Do you like some of the wildflowers enough to grow them in with the tame ones ? I sometimes dig up wildflowers and put them in my regular flower beds. Last summer, I noticed a pretty blue flowering plant in my field. I found it is called "heal-all" and is a medicinal herb. I dug some up and put it in containers and my flower beds. It is not invasive that I can tell, only a few plants here and there. I have some in with the shasta daisies friends on BHG gave me a few years ago. It would be pretty if they bloomed at the same time, but so far the shasta daisies are not blooming just yet. I also dug up some kind of mint, I think it is a horse mint or bergamot ? Anyway, the butterflies go crazy for it, and it is a pretty lavender fluffy flower, does not seem to be invasive. I have had it around for many years, and it is only scattered here and there in my fields. [not overtaking them like the oxeye daisies are] ( photo / image / picture from AAnightowl's Garden ) I have dug up other plants, sometimes they do fine, other times they died for me. The oxeye daisies have gone ballistic here. I like them, but not quite so many at one time.
I would love to have a place to dig up wildflowers but it's kind of frowned on by city officials and the highway department...to say nothing of the owner of the field. Some wildflowers have a tap root that makes them drought tolerant so they don't usually transplant well. You might keep an eye out for their seeds to ripen. Looks like you have Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot) and I think almost all members of the Monarda family have the common name of Horsemint. Is the heal-all you have Prunella vulgaris (Heal-All, Safe-Heal)? That would be a pretty one in the flower bed too.
Maybe, but the flowers on mine are a deep cobalt/violet blue, which is my favorite color. I did take some pics, but am having problems uploading them to my computer at the moment. http://www.anniesremedy.com/herb_detail ... TAodfhjREA This one shows better coloring. It might just be the individual camera that someone used. I put some in my wagon bed too, since these seem to have shallow roots, and don't mind the dry weather. I am hoping to dig up some wild goldenrod for my flower beds again. So far, my efforts have failed on that one. And there were some mini black eyed Susans on a neighbor's place. She doesnt mind if I get something now and then. You might try asking your county how they feel about it. The county I live in does not mind digging up plants or claiming rocks from their right of ways. The state highly frowns on it, and last I checked charged an $800 fine for doing so. I am outside city limits here. I will keep an eye out for seeds from flowers I like. The state poisons them out here. Stupid. A few summers ago, there was a wild flower resembling liatris [might have been a type of feather flowers?] growing very near my dirt road. I wish I had gotten some, because they have not come back. I tried the gentian, but it did not come back, neither did the wild pink phlox. I try to plant them in the same type of light and soil as I found them in.
I love having wild flowers in my garden. They are always more hardy than other perennials. I was going to plant a few lady slippers in my damp shade garden. Then I found out how much tubers cost. They were over 90.00 dollars each. One can't dig here as they are protected. Oh well. I guess I will just have to dream on.
Tooty, do they allow you to gather a few seeds in the fall ? Possibly not. If you look online, you might find one or more places that sell wildflowers, and have a better price?
http://www.wildflowerfarm.com/?gclid=CL ... Mgodi2oAGQ This was the first site when I typed in "where to buy wildflowers"... It looks good, just opened it up. A lot of other sites popped up also. Here is the 2d one I checked out. I like both sites. http://www.americanmeadows.com/wildflow ... Mgod1xwA4Q
