Which Wild Flowers should I plant?

When considering which wild flowers to plant, there are at least six ways you can introduce wild flowers into your garden or field:

• Grass & wildflower mixtures that create a wildflower meadow
• Wildflowers from seed mixtures that create a wildflower area
• Individual species of wildflower seed where you plant and establish a particular species
• Wildflowers from seed to create a border
• Wildflowers from bulbs, as with the seeds
• Wildflowers from plug plants. This is an alternative to the seed but can be a quicker an often more effective way of establishing a particular plant

 

Once established, wildflower meadows create a haven for wildlife and most of our mixtures will flower from late spring throughout the summer. Established wildflower meadows need little maintenance but the key is in taking time over the preparation. We send an advice booklet with every order for wild flower seed to help with this.

Wildflowers do not do well in competitive situations. You need therefore to have made every effort to kill off existing grass and weeds before trying to establish the seed. If sown into or with agricultural or amenity seed then these grasses may well smother the wildflower seed. We supply meadow grasses that are not as competitive as part of our combined grass and wildflower mixtures.

Establishing a wildflower meadow turns conventional gardening on its head. With most gardening, you decide where you want to end up and change everything to achieve that. With wildflowers you need to judge the existing soil type and conditions and plant a mixture best suited to that situation. Generally the soil fertility should be low. The seed is best sown on well drained, nutrient-poor subsoil.

If the ground is particularly fertile you might consider one of the cornfield annual mixtures: Cornfield Annuals Standard Mix or Cornfield Annual Gold Mix. We sell two mixtures and both will give a splash of colour in the summer. By the nature of being annuals they will only last one year, but with some careful management  you can create a situation where by they may reseed each year.

If you choose to go down the wildflower route, you need to decide whether to plant a grass and wildflower mixture or wildflower-only mixture. Wildflower-only mixtures can work well on smaller areas, but the most popular approach is to plant wild flowers and grass seed based on a 20% to 80% ratio. This creates the effect of the wildflowers flowering amongst the grass, at different times throughout the summer. The grass maintains an attractive backdrop throughout the year.