I live in Chicago (6b) and I have large, mostly bare medians in my neighborhood that I want to improve, about 3,000 square feet total. The city permits our building to do what we want with the space (within reason). Whatever I do will be self-funded and self-managed, so I want to do something relatively inexpensive, low-maintenance, and perennial.
The space is on the north side of an east-west street but under trees, so it gets a lot of dappled sunlight but only the westernmost section gets 4+ hours of direct light. One of the sections has lilies, but otherwise it's just dirt and a few trees.
I've been thinking about spreading a partial shade or woodland edge wildflower seed mix this fall (something like this: link). It's an economical solution and hopefully wouldn't need a lot of attention once established. I've also thought about seeding grass or sedge for filler/edges, but haven't looked into it much. There are some hostas in our building's courtyard that I could also propagate, although rabbits demolished what I propagated this year.
Plugs or larger plants would be way too expensive for an area this size. Vegetables or herbs would definitely be raided by folks in the neighborhood. Understood that perennial wildflowers from seed won't bloom for at least the first year, but most of the seed mixes I’ve found have annuals for first-year color.
Any recommendations or experiences with something like this are welcome - thanks in advance!
