It's too bad that you cant go just a tad bit shorter than 2 to 3 feet, I had lots of suggestions for you that stays with the same one plant, but with color varations. One suggestions was to go with the Cosmic cosmos--all three colors red, orange and yellow which are totally stunning and vibrant mixed together. And incredibly easy to grow from seed! Another suggestion was Magellan zinnias, which will grow like dwarf hydrangea shrubs smothered with handsized blooms that last for months. I had blooms that did not need be removed for 4 months, I kid you not! And there is just about every color available, coral, ivory, yellow, pink, scarlet, cherry, orange, salmon. I am growing over 400 of these this year. Another suggestion was a mixture of Celosia 'Fresh Look' colors in red, orange,and yellow. Most people hate celosia because they have never had good luck with keeping them going, but the Fresh Looks are very stunning, lush, healthy plants that get just under 2 foot tall, if I remember correctly. Another suggestion was to do Gomphrena, in a mixture of colors. Gomphrena, if plants are kept together and properly spaced will grow to a 2 foot tall airy "shrub" that stands up to rain, drought, etc. I grow the "All Around Purple', 'Strawberry Fields', and other colors from Park Seed, including white, rose and bicolor rose. Dont underestimate those small colored balls! They can REALLY make a huge standout, if they are grown correctly. I second the idea of using Profusion zinnias. These are like the perfect daisy like flower! Also, the blooms did not need removed for 4 months, available in colors: cherry, white, orange, Fire (reddish orange) and Apricot (my favorite). Very easy to grow from seed. You may want to check into the Tidal wave Petunias. If you space them about 2 foot apart, they will spread out like you wouldnt believe and grow to about 2 foot tall. I have never seen a petunia grow like this before last year! Though, the silver would blend right into your house color, but they do make a purple, hot pink, and cherry color that I will be doing this year. Tidals have a massive branching system to them. Do a search on gardenweb and you will find lots of pictures and ideas for them.

my son owns and operates a small gas heated organic green house and I have a friend who has a small orchard organically. both say they can sell everything they produce but many people (not all) expect to pay less for home produced goods. I think this is a matter of marketing because many small holders sell surplus at reduced rates..example; I buy local free range, organically fed, eggs for 3$$ doz. they are xlarge and very superior to store bought which charge 4.50$ for a comparable product. doesn't figure..i even offer to pay a fairer price but they won't go up. in 1980 I lived on a small acreage outside of Victoria bc and ran a little roadside stand. I kept a diary and marked in all sales and expenses. the bottom line was 18,000$. I still have the diary and read it occasionally, just as a reminder of the [possibilities. I'm almost 80 now so content myself with growing my own food, as far as possible, and smiling at the sun; but I know it's possible!!

All of the site preparation info above is good. Do it. Get rid of everything with Roundup (or any glyphosate herbicide). Then, next fall, in Nov or Dec, after the ground has cooled and nothing will germinate, spread an appropriate mixture of native grasses and forbs ("wildflowers") on the site. Let the winter rains and frosts work these into the ground (unless its sloped). The problem (as IÂve mentioned in several previous posts some time ago) is that "widlflowers" are never, ever found by themselves in nature. In every meadow example there are supporting and weed-suppressing grasses surrounding each forb. The reason your patch looked so bad was because it was a weed haven. If you can, at any time, look down and see bare soil (as you could when the flowers were there), weeds will take over the site. Consequently, youÂve got to plant proper grasses along with the flowers. And you need to plant a lot more grasses than forbs. You have a quarter-acre site, and I strongly recommend the planting of the grass below at a 10-15 lb/acre rate. ThatÂs about 4 lbs. The forbs are secondary and can be planted in ounce-sized quantities. But the key to accomplishing all that you wish is the proper selection, planting, and management of the supporting grasses. And there is really (in my experience  and IÂve done a lot of these professionally) only one grass to consider, little bluestem. It will provide all that you want: support for forbs, no requirement for water, fertilizers, or sprays, is gorgeous in all seasons (especially fall and winter in a remarkable russet red), and if properly managed, will persist until the next glacier gets here. The variety of little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) to use is ÂBlaze. A number of Midwest native grass suppliers have it. I recommend Ohio Prairie Nursery (http://www.ohioprairienursery.com/). They can supply this variety. Spread the seed, mixed with sand, over a light snow in Nov or Dec. By this, you can see where this fluffy seed lands. In spring and summer, simply mow the entire area at 3-4 inches. The little bluestem grows downward the first year or two, and is hardly visible (except to an experienced expert). This first-year mowing keeps any weeds from getting the upper hand. In the second year, mow again in May and June, but then back off and let the little prairie grasses begin to shoot up. You will see very little and believe that youÂve wasted your time and money. But after Oct frosts you will see a scattering of reddish small clumps. In the third year, these will become nice clumps of grass of wonderfully thin leaves that toss nicely in the wind. The forbs will be growing between these little bluestem clumps. In the fourth year you will have what you envisioned, a "wildflower" meadow (not a garden  gardens require constant weeding, watering, and other continual messing -with) If you think you are planting a Midwestern prairie in New England, you are correct. But as it happens, most of the uplands surrounding what later became Boston was a little bluestem prairie meadow landscape in the early 1600s at the time of settlement. New Englanders erroniously believe that all of the region was ancestrally all in dense forest. Not so. Many large areas, especially near the Coast, were little bluestem prairies created by annual Native American landscape fires. The heath hen, a bird which became extinct on MarthaÂs Vineyard in the 1930s, was actually a New England version (same species, different subspecies) of the Midwestern prairie chicken. Unless you plant some native prairie grasses, you will not be able to accomplish all that you envision. The finest thing would be to attempt to restore this rare 16th century habitat.

the CGM is supposed to keep seeds from germinating, so I would think that if you put in seedlings instead of seeds, the flowers should be okay. But I am not real familiar with using CGM. I have read alot about it, but never used it myself. You may want to ask someone on the organic gardening forum. There are probably more people there familiar with CGM. How old is your native plantings? And how big is your planting? Usually as the native planting ages and becomes more mature, annuals are less likely to be successful. However I do know that Poa is very hard to get rid of and I have heard alot of people on these forums complain about it. So you are not alone. On small plantings, like a small yard, I have found that hand removal of weeds is the most effective thing that you can do. Of course its simply not practicle on anything with a bit of size to it.... Good luck with your planting... it sounds lovely. And we always appreciate pictures :-)