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Late Summer’s Flowering Meadows Show New England Native Wildflowers at Their Best

In open fields, in wet meadows, and in roadside strips across our region, it’s flower time.

“The flowering perennials native to southern New England are at their best in unmanaged open spaces in late summer and early fall,” says Glenn Dreyer, director of the Connecticut College Arboretum.

The arboretum oversees four meadows, including a 14-acre Mamacoke Island area on the north side of Benham Road in Waterford. There are also several smaller meadows in the arboretum near its Williams Street offices on the Conn College campus.

On Wednesday, Nov. 14, meadows will be featured as one of several alternatives to conventional lawns at the arboretum’s semi-annual conference titled “Smaller American Lawns Today,” a.k.a. SALT. The conference is named after a movement started in 1997 by the late Dr. William Niering, a well known botany professor at the college.

What is a meadow? Dreyer defines it as a planting dominated by herbaceous species, not woody trees or shrubs.

“Grasses are the dominant component,” he says.

The arboretum encourages native plants in the meadows it manages, which in turn provide habitat and food for native birds, bees, butterflies, and small mammals such as the New England cottontail.

“The worse the soil the better the meadow,” says Dreyer. “When the soil is poor, gravelly and acidic, there is less weed competition.”

Dreyer says that meadow wildflowers change from year to year, with different species emerging and others dying out as the meadow matures.

Monique Hanson, a Chester homeowner, learned this first-hand. She planted a quarter-acre area in June 2014, with a seed mix of 55 percent grass, 25 percent native flowering perennials, 10 percent other perennials, and about 10 percent annuals.

In the first year, the annual flowers in Hanson’s meadow provided brilliant shades of pink and purple.

“In the second year, we have lots of white and yellow perennials,” she says. “This fall, I’m going to add some red and orange flowers to get more color variety next year.”

With some planning, meadows can blossom from April to October.

Contrary to what many believe, a meadow has no particular size requirement. In Durham, Diane St. John’s 50 x 100 foot meadow is in its fourth year. Interestingly, St. John didn’t set out to create a meadow.

“At first, I just decided to stop mowing an area we rarely visited,” she says. “We cut paths through the grassy area. Then I noticed my kids loved running through the pathways and playing in the tall grass. It gave me the idea to encourage flowers in it.”

Many people worry about ticks in tall grasses, but the height of the grass may not be the biggest factor in tick populations.

“I find 82 percent of ticks within nine feet of woodland edges,” says Dr. Kirby Stafford, an expert on Lyme disease and ticks at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven. “I’ve sampled wildflower meadows and found most ticks along the edge, similar to a lawn.”

Visit the Connecticut College Arboretum website to learn more about SALT and the Nov. 14 conference: www.conncoll.edu/the-arboretum/programs-and-activities/salt/.

Kathy Connolly is a landscape designer, garden writer and speaker from Old Saybrook. Her website is www.SpeakingofLandscapes.com. Email: Kathy@SpeakingofLandscapes.com