Hi Mary, I've learned a lot from this forum as well! Another factor in my preferences is I'm getting older and don't want to bend down low to "smell the roses." Tall, fragrant & low maintenance is what I want for my garden these days. Fragrant miniatures I hope to keep potted & up higher to enjoy. Yes, there is crown hardy, then there is cane hardy. Most of the Morden roses are only crown hardy for me - their canes die but they grow back fast & strong. But not all zones are the same (ex. my neighbour's Morden Sunrise rarely dies back & is 4 feet tall, mine dies back to the snowline. I swear they're at least half a zone warmer than me!), maybe that's why cane hardiness is rarely described on tags. A quick run down of some of the rose groups as I informally think of them, based on what is available to me. I'm sure there are more official ways (and multiple names) to describe them. They overlap in the sense that some Explorers are "rugosas", some Explorers are "modern": Types: Species (wild roses such as woodsii, arkansana, virginiana, etc. My understanding is all roses are bred from species roses, which affect the hardiness depending on the species used.) Rugosas (rugose leaves) Rugosa hybrids (cross between a rugosa and a modern rose) Scotch (aka Spinossisima or Burnet) Gallicas (dark rich colours, once blooming) Albas (modtly soft pinks, fragrant, once blooming) Hybrid teas (not hardy for me, but often fragrant with large blooms. Ex. 'Peace' or 'Double Delight') Modern (I use this term to describe the mixed bag of roses developed in the last few decades. These are usually somewhat shrubby, lower maintenance & meant for the garden.) And then there are "brands". These are usually developed from a rose breeder or company with specific goals in mind. Some brands available to me: Canadian Explorer (ex. Martin Frobisher, Jens Munk, John Cabot, Frontenac & more. Most are tough/hardy, but many are larger) Canadian Parkland (ex. Morden Blush, Moden Sunrise, Winnipeg Parks, Hope for Humanity & more. Smaller compared to the Explorers, flashier flowers, but poorer health for some.) Canadian Artist (ex. Oscar Peterson, Campfire & more.) 49th Parallel (ex. Chinook Sunrise, Canadian Shield & more. The latest series of Canadian roses.) Pavement Series (ex. Snow Pavement, Purple Pavement & more. Mostly rugosas.) David Austin (ex. Heritage, Golden Celebration & more. Famous as Engligh shrub roses) Buck Roses Collection (ex. Distand Drums, Prairie Princess & more. Known for good health. ) Oso Easy from Proven Winners (these make a great landscaping rose for constant colour but I don't grow them as they are low growing and usually not fragrant to my nose). Note, the name Prairie at the beginning has been used by a few different companies/breeders. Although some may share some of the same parents, not all do. For example, Prairie Peace and Prairie Celebration are very different. My latest interest are roses like Therese Bugnet, which was bred in Alberta. Here's a garden shot from 2017, things are a little late to bloom this year:

Well, I thought I would offer an update. Things are progressing nicely as long as I do the hand work that needs to be done. I have spent the last week working on thistles. Some with chemical, where they are thickest, but mostly I am hand pulling them. Actually, they pull rather readily at this point in the season. If you can get the bulk of the tap root, then, that thistle is a goner. The clover is still invasive, but I have decided to fight the thistle battle instead, because I think I can take care of the clover next year with my first burn in April. Heres some pictures from a few days after my inital postings. Ive chosen not to tackle the dandylions at this point in time either, because fire will take them out and they will get choked out eventually.

If I were working on your garden, I would not attempt to seed the entire area, or even most of it. In fact I might plant very few seeds directl into the ground. You don't really have an overwhelmingly large area. I would clear manageable sections, perhaps each as large as a dining room table, and plant each with a single type of wildflower. I would probably get my shovel and dig out a lot of the weeds, but you could also use Roundup as planned. Either way, try to make sure most of the weeds are gone, then plant a nice single-species stand of flowers. The single-species group will allow the plants to develop at the same pace as their neighbors without having the quick growers shading the slower growers, while the dining room table sized patches will still look like a wildflower meadow when you're done. In a real meadow, you'll find surprisingly large patches of each type of flower, and not usually a random scattering of single plants of many species. By planting patches like these, you'll find that the whole area is planted in a couple of years, and even in the first year you could have a dozen or two patches planted and the hillside will start to look very colorful. You cannot have this project done in a year or two. It will basically take forever, but after the initial couple of years you'll discover which flowers grow well, look nice, spread, and persist more than a year or two. Once you have lots of robust plants growing there, weeds will become less of a problem, although there will always be a few popping up. I would focus on native plants that spread vegetatively. Bergamot is a good choice. I would also get some Bee Balm - Monarda didyma - which is related to bergamot. Any native plant or hardy non-native perennial could be used, but the ones that spread vegetatively - that is, the plant grows now shoots or new plants alongside it - will be nice because they will cover the ground and keep weeds at bay better than non-spreading plants. I would not expect satisfactory results from sowing a wildflower seed mix. First, you'd have to till the soil to expect a decent germination rate. Second, you'll have to distinguish the wildflowers form the much more numerous weed seedlings that will be all over, and third, you'll probably get a skimpy stand of plants and then have to decide is you should try to salvage what you have or start over. I would either buy plants and encourage them to spread, or start plants from seeds in pots as you've been doing. I wouldn't expect poppies of any variety to be a major part of your meadow. They grow OK in a garden, but will probably only tolerate, not thrive in a meadow setting with lots of competition from other plants.

Danny, I finally had some time to sit and read your article and view the photos. I thought it was well written and the photos are great. Really? Plants shading out the bermuda? I would be afraid the bermuda would choke out plants but thinking about it, I have often seen thug weeds choke it out and overcome it in peoples lawns to their chagrin, the park up the street is being overcome by the dreaded Dallis Grass replacing bermuda so it does make sense that some good tough prairie grasses could do serious battle against it. I always wonder if among all those weed seeds you would bring up by tilling would also contain some long dormant treasures. Maybe setting small plants in your meadow lodged a few desirable seeds up to the surface and they finally germinated? Interestingly, I have had several volunteers of prairie clover and purple wine cups but nature has yet to drop so many surprises from the sky as you reported. I did find some variations like an unusual butterscotch colored Mexican hat volunteered this year when all I have ever planted was the deep burgundy kind and some nearly solid red plains coreopsis from.....somewhere? Only the very edges of the flowers showed any yellow. I love the surprises. Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed seeing the pictures and reading the article.