The Wildflower Strip: Year Two

This is Year Two for my Wildflower Strip. It's a 150-foot-long (perhaps 15-foot-wide) narrow strip next to the ditch running along our road. A year ago in spring, my husband sprayed and used his 1940 9N tractor to till up and smooth out the strip, and then used a walk-behind broadcast spreader to sow the wildflower seed that I bought online:

The seed mix I used was Eden Brothers "Burst of Bloom" wildflower
seed mix. It has performed beautifully. (Photo from Eden Bros site.)

The "Burst of Bloom" wildflower mix is certainly appropriately named: it contains the following 20 kinds of flowers:

• Baby's Breath Gypsophila elegans Annual
• Dwarf Cornflower/Bachelor Button Centaurea cyanus Annual
• Tall Cornflower/Bachelor Button Centaurea cyanus Annual
• Red Corn Poppy (Legion Poppy) Papaver rhoeas Annual
• Lance Leaf Coreopsis Coreopsis lanceolata Annual
• Mixed Red Poppy (Shirley Poppy) Papaver rhoeas Annual
• Wild Cosmos Cosmos bipinnatus Annual
• California Poppy Eschscholzia californica Annual/Perennial
• Blanketflower Gaillardia aristata Perennial
• Black Eyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta Biennial
• Wild Perennial Lupine Lupinus perennis Perennial
• Purple Coneflower Echinacea purpurea Perennial
• Russel Lupine Lupinus polyphyllus Perennial
• Plains Coreopsis Coreopsis tinctoria Annual
• Siberian Wallflower Cheirianthus allionii Biennial
• Blue Flax Linum usitatissimum Annual
• Scarlet Flax Linum grandiflorum rubrum Annual
• Drummond Phlox Phlox drummondii Annual
• Sulphur/Orange Cosmos Cosmos sulphureus Annual
• Gloriosa Daisy Rudbeckia gloriosa Perennial

This photo, taken at the end of July 2013, shows mostly cosmos,
bachelor buttons, annual coreopsis and annual poppies.

Last year, there was a brief show of annuals, as seen in the photo above, but unfortunately the 2013 drought cut short what could have been a much more beautiful and long-lasting display (and no hoses will reach all the way down to that end of our property to allow us to water it).

This spring, there was a glorious orange blaze of Siberian Wallflowers in early June (which I didn't get a photo of, sadly), followed by the current bonanza of biennial Black-Eyed Susans, Blanketflowers and Gloriosa Daisies:

I'm waiting to see what else will bloom: Will we get some stately lupines? Red corn poppies (appropriate for this centennial anniversary of the beginning of the First World War)? Coneflowers, phlox or flax?

And the other question: Will I have to replant the seeds next year, or will the annuals and biennials reseed and the perennials come back? Or will grass and weeds take over?

This is fun, waiting to see what the show will bring us next. Stay tuned for updates! Thanks for reading.
-Beth

P.S. I have increased the width of my blog in order to be able to post larger photos. Please let me know in the comments section if you have trouble viewing this width on your monitor or other device. Thanks again!