How do I turn part of my backyard into a flowered-meadow (and, hopefully, a small Zen garden)?

Ok, things that grow quickly and viciously, but still stay small – bit of an oxymoron there. If you don’t want to have to trim things back (and are bothered if things get a bit carried away) then you need to go with plants that don’t grow that aggressively.

@MyNewtBoobs I mean, something that would spread and cover the ground quickly, but not grow so tall as to need large amounts of maintenance after a while and prevent unwanted plants from growing.

@ddude1116 Mint, I think. It won’t grow that high, although it will have woody stems if you don’t trim it back. Or any of the ground covers here.

Bluebells, Heathers, fennel, lavender, mint is very rampant!! Strawberries, daffodils, these all grow small but tend to spread eacb year. I’m not a gardening expert its just what I have witnessed in my garden. Alternativly most garden centres will havepackets of wild.flower seeds…my sister in law bought a mixed pack, she got poppies and all.sorts of beautiful flowers!

Daffodils naturalize themselves, so you’ll get more of them each year. They also come in different heights, I think. For some nice foliage in the shady areas, look into hostas.

I think you are looking for some sort of ground cover plants the link is a list of ground covering plants for a shady area with the different conditions they will tolorate. Their are some really nice ground covering that we have around here but not knowing what zone you live in I am not sure what will do well in your area and to suggest.

Be sure to include some sort of clover in it.

How would ground cover plants fare against the grass that is already there? Or would I have to clear that out before I get started?

In order to plant anything, you have to get rid of the grass and prep the soil. You can rent a machine that gets under the turf and strips it off in layers.

Then you hand-dig or roto-till the dirt, amend it with compost or some dried manure and plant what makes sense.

Here, in zone 4, I have dozens of successful ground covers. Once you get it started, you can make stem cuttings or rip up the babies and plant them elsewhere, or give to neighbors, or burn or eat.

In the shade;

Sweet woodruff
Magenta, yellow and purple violets
Pink lilies-of-the-valley
Myrtle
Jacob’s ladder
Virginia harebells
Pacific bleeding hearts (lower and less gaudy than the specimens)
Ajuga
Brunnera
Forget-me-nots
Goutweed

In the sun:

Lamium (yellow, white and pink)
Sweet woodruff
Cranesbill sanguineum
Creeping thyme
Lemonbalm

In the wilder areas, such as around the compost and in my woods

Mints
Lemonbalm
Myrtle
Walking onion
Trillium
Dogtooth violet

As for Zen garden, some sand, some gravel, some interesting rocks, a little fountain, and no noise or confusion.

Some examples

And finally, flowering meadows are not maintenance-free. You have to fuss with it year after year unless you want only the big bullies and dominators who take over; viz; dandelions, blackeyed-Susan, milkweed, thistle, butter and eggs, butter cups, clover, vetch, Queen-Anne’s-lace, creeping Charlie, sheep sorrel, and crab grass.

I would like to add that there’s a bit more to a Zen garden than just sand and rocks. I took a Landscape Architecture class as an ‘art’ requirement and I discovered that the rocks have meaning, as does the sand. Really, the whole garden does. You may find it of interest to dig further into the subject.. who knows, you might get serious about it. :)

@gailcalled Would a regular weedkiller be sufficient to maintain it?

@gailcalled That still sounds to me like a flowering meadow. In fact, a pretty darned cool one.

@ddude1116: NO weed-killer, ever. It will poison the ground water and the good insects and critters.

@Incendiary dan is right. Now that I consider it, a wild flower meadow doesn’t need poppies or annual batchelor’s buttons to be pretty. Just stuff that will prevent the old-fashioned grass from growing.

Over the years, I have been transplanting my ground covers to the wilder parts of my property. It has been a slow-and-steady work-in progress (20 years now) with some occasional weeding to get rid of the inevitable interlopers.

Here is what my ground cover, both shade and sun, looked like last week. Click on the thumbnails to see most of it. I do have lawn and have it mowed every ten days, but I see that some of the ground cover (ajuga and creeping thyme particularly) has spread there also.

I did not bother to photograph the rougher areas, around compost pile, at edge of pond and at entrance to driveway.

@gailcalled Oh.. So I should just weed it every week or so.. And by the way, your yard looks lovely!

@ddude1116 : Depending on your fanaticism, you can simply yank a few unwanted things from time to time.