Today In the Garden - ONCE UPON A CONEFLOWER

Plant Life of the Grand Canyon

Update July 17 – 29, 2025–– A devastating wildfire called the Dragon Bravo fire is ravaging the Kaibab plateau along the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. The full extent of the damage is not yet clear, as the fire is still only partially contained but it has now moved inland, away from the rim. Unfortunately the historic main lodge and surrounding cabins are gone. The good news is that a fair amount of tree cover in the immediate vicinity somehow survived.

I have no words for the impact this destruction will have on the entire area for years if not decades to come. These images are now even more precious.

Since our gardens are fast asleep this time of year, I thought I’d deviate from my usual subjects and take you on an armchair mini-tour of some of the plant life at the Grand Canyon. The Southwest and the Grand Canyon in particular are favorite vacation destinations of my husband and myself.

Drawing on photos from our rim-to-rim hike in 1989, a 9-day rafting trip in 2008, and a 2013 return to the North Rim, I was able to pull together a collection of images that illustrate some of the plants found there, as well as a few amazing canyon vistas taken from the Colorado River.

Revisiting these photos, I once again feel the sun on my shoulders as the rasping caw of a raven ricochets off the canyon walls. Oh, to be back there right now! So let’s go…put on your virtual hiking boots and come along.

Making A Modern Meadow Garden

Helenium, daylilies, alliums, and coneflowers mingle

What is a “modern meadow garden”?

According to several sources I consulted, the term came into use to describe a relatively recent trend in gardening and to differentiate it from genuinely wild spaces. A meadow garden is deliberately created as a “naturalistic” planting, usually consisting of indigenous plants that mimic a wild meadow. A modern meadow garden incorporates a much wider selection of cultivars than would ordinarily coexist in nature, greatly expanding the concept.

I would describe the characteristics of a such a garden as informal and open, often grassy, with an unforced blowsy quality we identify with unmown fields, glades and prairies. The overall impression is one of soft movement and harmony framed by the larger landscape.

Traditional meadows filled with natives have been around for a while, but they never really caught on in a big way. With the world now yearning to connect more with nature, this modern interpretation has brought the meadow squarely into the public eye, popping up in parks and gardens and private properties all over the world.

Ordering Plants By Mail

A selection of print catalogs from years past

As the new year begins, piles of garden catalogs stuffed with all manner of flowers, veggies, seeds and bulbs start deluging our mailboxes. Those glossy photos look so tempting as we flip the pages and sip our tea. Whether we’re in a buying mood or not, it’s exciting to peruse new varieties and ponder others we still haven’t gotten around to acquiring but keep thinking about.

So you circle one here, dog-ear a page there… Finally you decide to commit your choices to the order form and hit send.

Or maybe not.

Maybe you just don’t trust mail order. Or you had a bad experience years ago and swore Never again. But mail ordering living plant material has come a long way. Let me lay out the pros and cons of gardening by mail.