One of the good things I like about gardening is that by this time of year, as the garden starts to slow down, plans are already in the making for next years garden. I'm thinking next year I am not going to plant bedding plants, except a few recycled Pelargoniums (Geraniums) and that's because they overwinter so well. Instead, in the areas often filled with bedding, I am going to sow wildflower seeds. I guess a few bedding plants will creep in but in the main along two walled  borders which are often candidates for bedding there will be wildflowers.

I am coming to the view that bedding plants are expensive, and high maintenance in terms of  planting, dead heading and watering. Wild flowers are easy to seed, very attractive, loved by bees and butterflies and better value. I have this year and last, made a wild flower patch and for more about planting a  wildflower patch follow the link, and its much easier than you may think.

As an experiment next year I am going to sow seed into the borders. The images right show the wildflower patch now which I think looks good for September and has been in flower for months. This year I used a wildflower roll/Matt and a seed mix. Last year the wildflower roll/Matt did very well, but this year it was a  bit disappointing. In the images on the right this is the seed mix, which has done much better and was cheaper. There are several different types of wildflower seed mixes you can buy and I think I'll mix and match wildflower seed next year instead of Petunias and Lobelia . It will be a fun to try if nothing else.