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Photo Credit: Longwood Gardens L. Albee

Queen Anne’s lace and black-eyed Susans add wonderful color to a sea of native grasses.

Sue Barton is an accomplished and experienced gardener. In her professional life, she’s the Cooperative Extension specialist for ornamental horticulture at the University of Delaware. In her free time, she’s constantly planting, pruning and planning new projects on her 11-acre property in Landenberg, PA.

But even with all her gardening acumen, Sue’s husband, Doug, was leery when she decided to establish a wildflower meadow four years ago. “He was afraid it wasn’t going to look very good,” she acknowledges. “And I have to admit, the first season or two, it did look pretty rough.”

But now, Sue and Doug are so pleased with their meadow, they’ve added a second one. In fact, they’ve transformed 3 acres of their property into lovely fields. While these “gardens” are mainly a mix of native grasses, they also feature a variety of native wildflowers like butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), asters (Aster sp.), Joe-Pye weed (Eupatorium) and goldenrod (Solidago).

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Photo Credit: Longwood Gardens L. Albee

The meadow at Longwood Gardens shines with autumn splendor.

But why a meadow? There are lots of reasons, Sue says. Not only does she like that her meadows attract wildlife and reduce the need to mow, she appreciates the element of surprise the areas bring to her landscape as they continue to evolve every year.

“Meadows are part of the natural succession from field to forest, and as such, they are dynamic components of the landscape,” Sue explains. “When I created my first meadow, I had a lot of Queen Anne’s lace [Daucus carota], which I loved. As other vegetation got thicker, the Queen Anne’s disappeared. Now, common milkweed [Asclepias] is prevalent. The milkweed is great for attracting monarch butterflies, so I guess that’s a fair trade-off.”

What first inspired Sue to create a backyard meadow? It was a trip to beautiful Longwood Gardens, in Kennett Square, PA, (just minutes from her home). Longwood has a 35-acre managed meadow that looks especially attractive in late summer and early fall. The profusion of asters, goldenrod, little bluestem grass (Schizachyrium scoparium), blue verbena, New York ironweed (Vernonia) and great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) really shine that time of year.