Wildflower gardens can provide a gorgeous, unexpected surprise in your otherwise structured garden. Wildflowers are often more difficult to grow than regular annuals or perennials, yet the pay-off is great.
Wildflower gardens provide food for insects, birds and butterflies, thus providing you with a lovely focal point in your backyard.
How wildflowers like to grow
Sowing wildflower seeds is completely different from other types of flowers, as they require barren, nutrient-deficient soil. If you plant your wildflower seeds in rich topsoil, expect them to be quickly choked out by more aggressive plants and weeds.
Barren soil, on the other hand, allows wildflowers to germinate and not compete for space in your garden. Therefore, the first step in creating your wildflower garden is to remove the top layer of nutrient-rich topsoil (make sure to use it somewhere else in your landscape).
Wildflower seeds can be planted from early spring throughout the fall, but they often germinate best when planted in the summer.
Lightly sow your wildflower seeds into the soil. You can mix the seeds with barley meal, silver sand or sawdust to better spread the seeds and visualize where you’ve already spread seeds.
Allow the wildflowers to grow to about 6 inches, and then mow. Remove the clippings and use them in your compost pile. Continue to mow the wildflowers during the first year, about three to four times or whenever the garden becomes sloppy-looking or unmanaged.
Your wildflower garden will begin to bloom in the second year. Wait until all of the flowers have gone to seed and mow again – usually in mid-September.
Wildflower growing tips
- Plant your wildflowers around a pond to encourage germination (as this area is always moist).
- Try wildflower container gardens. This will reduce the number of weeds that pop up throughout the flowers and make it easier to maintain.
- Never use fertilizer. Wildflower gardens thrive best when planted in barren soil.
- Don’t weed your wildflower garden until you can easily distinguish between the wildflowers and the weeds.
- You can either plant your wildflower seeds directly into the soil or plant them in seed trays. Seed trays allow you to pick out which flowers you want in your wildflower garden.
- Don’t expect your wildflower garden to bloom in the first year. Many varieties of wildflowers may not germinate for a few years, depending on the weather conditions. Some varieties require winter chilling or high spring temperatures to break dormancy, for example.
- Some of the best wildflower gardens have grown on the unlikeliest of places. Bottom line: the poorer the soil, the better.
- Keep your wildflower seeds moist for a quicker germination.
- Lightly turn over and rake your wildflower garden in the spring, as this promotes the germination from any seeds which fell the previous year.
- Keep your soil organic by hand-weeding instead of using herbicides and other chemical weed controls.
- Enjoy your wildflower garden for years to come!
