Good morning! Happy Monday. I hope you had a lovely weekend! This week on Frolic! I’ll be sharing the rest of the photos from my English farm adventure the last six weeks. I am honestly still processing the whole experience. Collaborating and working alongside Lara of Manor Farm Cottage Flowers opened my mind to new ideas, tips, and garden inspiration. We’ve collaborated on a series of photos for her new website and without giving too much away, I’ll be sharing many of the photos this week to savor these last moments of summertime.
In addition to flower farming, Lara is also a garden designer and landscaper. One of her recent projects is this meadow! Isn’t it just divine? Honestly, while I have so much admiration for the craft of garden design, a lot of it just doesn’t resonate with me. Just as I like my flower arrangements, soft, billowy, and natural, like you just picked them from the garden, I like my gardens to look as if they just sprouted on their own without being overly designed.
Naturally, any design that appears to be so effortless takes quite a bit of work! To make a meadow work, you need to take into account the soil, exposure to sun, and climate of the area. You also have to have methods for keeping weeds at bay and figure out if you have the right varieties to keep the color blooming throughout the season. You can buy mixes of wildflower seeds with different combinations of flowers through seed catalogs like this.
Lara designed and maintained this garden for a residential client in the English countryside. I often walked past it on my wanderings through the our little hamlet, and just smiled every time I saw it.
Don’t you just love the idea of planting a meadow?! I also love this idea of a fleur de lawn instead of a normal lawn! My dream house is a super modern little cabin with clean lines set in the midst of a meadow like this! Have you ever planted a meadow or a wildflower lawn? I’d love to see photos!
Photos: Chelsea Fuss. Garden design by Lara Smith of Manor Farm Cottage Flowers. Taken in Somerset, England.
Absolutely stunning, Chelsea!! I adore that look of whimsical charm! Thanks for sharing all the beauty.
Shirley xox
Wow, these pictures are so beautiful. I love them :-). We’ve planted a meadow this spring. But I’m not sure it will ever look so lovely like Lara’s…..
Kind regards
Isa
just so beautiful
beautiful! i love this idea “fleur de lawn”… so charming.
Meadows are beautiful. They are, however, a transition stage in nature, so it is a bit of work to keep them in this state. Eventually Mother Nature wants to push the meadow to the next phase: shrubs…
Make sure to look for seed mixes that are native to your area. What is “fun” in one part of the country may turn out to be invasive in another geography.
Gorgeous! I love it! Mental Check: Plant a meadow border in my new house! 🙂
Hello; what a wonderful garden and flowers ; It is so inspiring for me. I really like color this flower ; it is looks like Garden’s Alice…Have a crazy day
Stunning. Believe it or not, I pass a meadow like this on my way to work on the Garden State Parkway. Any idea what specific wildflower mix this is?
Roseann, these are Cosmos planted in mass.