With the growing-slash-blooming season in full-swing, an update to #Operation:Wildflowers is in order. Spoiler alert: the journey to the flowerbeds of my dreams is apparently a long one, with many lessons along the way.

Lesson One: Clover is one of those weird plants that likes being cut back, growing bigger and better than ever after each “haircut.” Some parts of the beds have been cut at least 3 times {providing lovely mulch for the young pepper plants}, and you’d never know. We finally decided to let the clover do its thing and see what happened.

Lesson Two: Clover is a flower too. Once we stopped cutting it, the clover took off: growing lush and thick, and finally blooming. It was beautiful, and all the pollinators loved the soft purple blooms.

Lesson Three: We’re going to need more stakes and/or more levels of twine to support future flowers. While there was definite improvement this year, I continue to underestimate the “oomph” of the wind at our place. Even with the supports, as the clover – and bachelor buttons – got leggier, they started flopping wildly.

Lesson Four: Never underestimate the cosmos. {The flower, but probably should not underestimate space-cosmos either}. I believe cosmos were included in the wildflower mixes I planted, but I’ve also got a hunch that some of this year’s plants are from last year’s dropped seeds. A few of the stalks have that oh-so-familiar terraforming stockiness, ha. They’re beautiful though, and I love how they force their way through the clover.

Lesson Five: Bachelor buttons come in many, many colors. They also get wild and leggy, and I read somewhere that halfway through summer you can cut them back by 1/3 and they’ll “start over” with new growth and blooms. I think I’m going to try it – and fingers crossed that the “self-seeding” aspect works and next year they come back again/spread, because they’re so fun!

I may not have achieved the lush wildflower beds of my dreams, but what has bloomed has been pretty. The clover provided not only mulch-cover for young plantlings, but also a lush bank of green that was refreshing to observe. And I’m learning, always learning, and can take this year’s lessons, add them to last year’s, and see what happens next year!