Wild Meadow Flowers

Wild Meadow Flowers can cover a very wide range of species. From the humble Yarrow and Self Heal through to the more exotic Nettle Leaved and Clustered Bell flowers.   You can plant wildflowers as individual species, simple or complex mixes. Wild flowers generally do best as part of a mixture and the perennials are best suited to a meadow effect where grass is a back drop. [gallery ids="707,897,1026"]   You can enjoy the wild meadow flowers as they come into flower over the summer. The benefit of planting a mixture is that you can, once established, have different species in flower in different months, with a variety of colours and different heights. A well-established long term wild flower meadow can be a thing of beauty over the summer as it will constantly change. They should be organised so you can walk through them when larger or see across them if a smaller meadow. Although the meadow grasses may not seem as important as the wild meadow flowers there are many grasses that are attractive. The grass mix should contain fescues and bents. If it has Crested Dogstail, Yellow Oatgrass and Sweet Vernal Grass in the mix, then the grasses will be interesting and attractive on their own. If there is grass there already then you may be able to plant just wild flowers in a 100% wild flower seed mix. But you should be starting with at least 50% bare soil and 50% grass. Sowing wildflowers on their own into an existing lawn or a grass field is unlikely to work. If starting with bare soil, we suggest sowing a grass and wild flower seed mix. These are normally based on 80% grass 20% wild flowers. People often, understandably, worry that they are sowing too much grass and too little wild flowers. You need to bear in mind the following 3 points; The % is based on weight of seed not numbers of seed. There are a lot more wild flower seeds per gram than there are grasses. By numbers of seed the proportion is nearer 50/50. Secondly when you sow a lawn you sow 40 grams to the square metre of grass. When you sow a meadow mix you will be sowing about 3 to 4 grams to the square metre of grass. Lastly wildflower can grow into large plants from small seeds whilst grass just grows into grass! So you will be sowing complex mixture of Meadow Grasses and Wild Meadow Flowers. If you increase the seed rate and sow more, the grass may smother out the flowers. If you increase the percentage of wildflowers, you may not see any benefit. Sow the meadow mixes in autumn (August through to Mid-October) or in spring (March through to Mid-May). Clear the ground thoroughly and broadcast the seed mixes they will take a couple of years to come to the fore but once established should give you interest and enjoyment every summer. For detail on wild flower meadow mixes click on the link below Wild Meadow Flowers