My almost 20-year-old wildflower ditch garden

About this Photo

Wildflowers

Cheryl Schelling

Zone 4

IOWA

I planted this ditch into wildflowers almost 20 years ago because it was too steep to mow. I originally started with packs of wildflowers from Menard’s. I found they had yarrow in their seed and it grew wild, took over the patch and has spread all the way through the ditch. I looked for more seeds and discovered Eden Brothers. This is the only seed I’ve planted since then. When my daughter married in August 4 years ago, we filled little packs with wildflower seeds for favors and others have also planted your wildflower seeds. My only problem with this ditch is the creeping jennies (wild morning glories) that try to mat everything down and I have to weed endlessly. I am certainly looking for suggestions on them. I’ve since started two other ditches with wildflowers. We farm so I have access to lots of silage tarp plastic and tire slices and these beds I prepared the year before by covering them with plastic and tires. This really worked well to stamp out the weeds so I’ve started taking sections of my original wildflower ditch and tarping them. It isn’t as pretty but I really would like to get these jennies in control in this large ditch.