Growing wildflowers to welcome life back to your garden.
Wildflowers are pure magic. They often are the first plants that comeback after natural disasters like fires and honestly they need those “hardships” to really flourish. Often wildflower sanctuaries and gardens will used prescribed burning to help them have better germination and growth. This phenomenon is actually where the name for my farm came from. It’s a nod to how the hardships I have faced in life have made me grow and flourish into the person I am today.
Wildflowers make a wonderful addition to any garden space or yard. They generally are low maintenance and will usually thrive under many conditions that non-native plants don’t. Their beauty is a little wild and I love that about them. I am someone that doesn’t want to show my dominance over nature by having a perfectly manicured lawn and garden. Often these spaces lack biodiversity and life. How many times have you heard people talking about the magic of fireflies (or lighting bugs depending on where you’re from) or butterflies from childhood and how there just aren’t many of them anymore. The reason is because we have created landscapes that don’t support the life they need to survive.
Many a suburban homeowner is on a rigid quarterly pesticide and herbicide treatment plan to keep all that life at bay. The trophy of best yard goes to the one with the “weed” free yard and meticulously manicured flowerbeds filled with non-native bedding plants. In order to have a variety of wildlife like birds and pollinators in our outdoor spaces we have to shift our mindsets around what creates a beautiful space and invited them back in. The first step in any of this is to have keystone host plants. The Ladybird Johnson’s wildflower Center website has some amazing lists of native plants for your local area. These plants are are critical for biodiversity that is needed to have healthy balanced ecosystems.
Back to wildflowers. It is fairly easy to find wildflower blends for your location and region. Don’t just buy generic wildflower mixed. Most commercial mixes sold at big box stores aren’t actually filled with native wildflowers. They are often filled with several, while amazing, flowering plants that have a “wild” or “cottage” feel to them, they aren’t in fact native wildflowers. If you search for local seed companies often you can find one that is a regional supplier. I found one here in central Oklahoma through my local conservation commission. The one I am using is Johnson Seed Co which is based in Enid Ok. I love that they have some premade seed blends that are specific to our regions. They also offer custom blending which I LOVE! Several of the local conservation organizations like our yard-by-yard and okies for monarchs have their own custom blends and they even donate back to these amazing programs!
Once you have found your wildflower seed source, it’s time to do a little prep work to get everything ready to go! Here is a short list of the things you’ll want to look at and decide on before you purchase your seeds:
Determine which seeds (or plants) you want to get. While most are relatively easy, having some knowledge on how to be successful is beneficial. This could also help you have more success by starting with seeds (or plants) that are more on a beginner level.
Learn when the best planting time is. Remember how I said some of these wildflowers like “hardship” one of those is a period of cold called stratification. This can be replicated if the varieties you want to grow need it and it’s the “wrong” time of the year for planting.
Prepare your planting site. You may need to prep an area for planting by tilling, racking, or killing off non-native turf grasses. There are natives that are a little slower to germinate or mature and making sure that faster growing non-natives don’t over take them is essential so preparing the site ahead of time will help to set you up for success.
Okay so now that we have the site ready to go lets get to planting! Remember what I said about knowing what time of the year it is best to sow your seeds, and plant at the appropriate time or follow any special germination instructions like cold stratification for optimal germination. Fall and spring are the most common times to plant due to cooler weather/temp and these seasons usually have more rain to help maintain soil moisture without having to additionally water. Fall is the prime time that many natives go to seed and naturally would reseed themselves so that is one reason it is an optimal time to put seeds out.
When you go to sow your wildflowers, you can either choose to hand-sow or use a crank-style seeder. Either option will work great for planting wildflowers and each offers its own pros and cons. When planting, it can be beneficial to sow more than the minimum listed to ensure a dense, gorgeous bloom. Once your seeds are evenly sown, you can rake back over the seed with your garden soil. Another thing that can help when sowing is to mix the seeds with sand or vermiculite to help with distribution. This also acts as a visual aide to see where the seeds have been sown.
Just because people like to say wildflowers are “low-maintenance” doesn’t mean they are “no-maintenance” wildflowers. You will need to weed the area your wildflowers are growing in to make sure they don’t get over ran and give them supplemental watering until they are well established. Additionally, your wildflowers may require annual mowing that will help disperse and germinate seeds. If the species present in your landscaping do not drop seed, they may also require reseeding over time to maintain a lush and colorful landscape. The following are just a few of my favorite native flowers local to where I live in Central Oklahoma:
Lanceleaf Coreopsis ‘tickseed"‘
Echinecea ‘Purple coneflower’
Rudbeckia ‘black-eyed susan’
Milkweed
Solidego ‘golden rod’
Asters
Yarrow
Happy Growing Flower Friends.