Wildflower Seed Planting Tips
Where to Plant Your Wildflower Seeds
Select a site with good drainage and full sun, removing weeds and choking grasses.
If any exist, remove by pulling, tilling, or smothering with newspaper or cardboard. Loosen the soil if hard-packed, but do not till more than 2-3 inches* deep. There are untold numbers of dormant weed seeds in the top layers of soil just waiting to germinate with a little exposure!
Then rake the area smooth. Avoid fertilizing at this stage as this only encourages weed growth and will produce extensive leaf growth at the expense of blooms. Complete this process at and near the site you have chosen for wildflowers BEFORE you seed.
Use of herbicides is strongly discouraged and should only be used if absolutely necessary. Please carefully follow label instructions.
After the wildflowers have germinated, it can be very difficult to distinguish flowers from weeds. For this reason, it’s best to wait until blooms appear, then simply pull up the unwanted weeds. This means waiting 8-10 weeks, so if you do recognize a weed in the meantime, obviously get rid of it.
*Avoid deep tilling. Try to only disturb the top 2-3 inches of soil, then rake smooth. Allow the weed seeds that have been exposed, to germinate, then hoe or hand pull them. Leave them to dry out on the surface of the soil, to become an amendment for your soil. Do not allow any weeds to seed out, pull or destroy all before they go to seed. If you have time, repeat the process, by allowing another round of weeds to sprout up for subsequent destruction before planting your wildflower seedbed. If you keep on top of the weed issue, you will eventually reduce the number of weed seeds that are left to germinate and your wildflowers will grow and fill in without competition.
What Quantity of Wildflower Seeds to Plant
A good rule of thumb is to plant 1 oz. of seed mix per 100-125 sq. feet (11.6 sq meters). Our 4 oz. bag of seed will cover 375 sq. feet, and our 8 oz. bag will cover 750 sq. feet. Our individual species bags have enough seed to cover an area of about 10 sq. feet. In our experience we have found that you can still get a pretty good stand of wildflowers at the rate of 1 lb. per 2,000 sq. feet up to 20 lbs. per acre (or 50-60 lbs. broadcast), if enough moisture is present.
These seeding rates are for our wildflower mixes only and do not apply to individual species which vary widely in their seeding rates. Please feel free to give us a call or send us an email if you have questions about individual seeding rates for large areas. Our small packages of individual species seeds contain enough seed to generally cover 10 square feet or an area of about 3′x3′.
Do not seed thicker than these rates, particularly if you are using a mixture of annuals and perennials. The perennial species will not have enough space to expand and mature and you will get too many annuals the first year that could shade out the perennials emerging underneath, which need sunlight to grow and develop.
Sowing Your Seeds
For small areas, broadcast the seed/sand mix by hand.
With large areas, to evenly distribute a mix of variable seed sizes, combine clean, dry sand with the seed at a ratio of 4:1 (sand to seed). Use a mechanical spreader, and spread each 1/2 of the mix over the entire area. This helps to avoid using up all the seeds before you reach the far end of your area.
Cover the seed only to a depth of 1/8 inch by lightly raking in with a hand rake for small areas. Avoid covering the seeds too deeply and using more than the recommended seeding rate.
If you are just scattering the seed on the top of the soil, make sure that there is good seed-to-soil contact by pressing the seed down or covering them with a thin layer of mulch. For a natural meadow-effect use only non-sod-forming grasses to mix with your wildflower seeds.
Gently soak the area and maintain consistent moisture for 4 to 6 weeks. If irrigation is not practical, try to take advantage of early spring moisture to aid with germination. In more temperate climates, take advantage of the cooler winter rainy season. In dry climates or drought conditions, water may be required after germination, tapering off as the plants become well established.
Understand that moisture MUST be present for germination. Either seed in early Spring, planting just before the last hard frosts, and hope for adequate rain, or provide timely irrigation. You can also wait to seed until Fall, just before Winter (for a dormant seeding), the freeze/thaw temperatures of spring help to break the seed dormancy of some species of wildflowers.
To mix grass seed with wildflowers, use only non-turf forming species such as blue gramma, sheep fescue, or hard fescue in equal parts with flower seed. These are non-competitive and serve to control erosion. For the southeastern US, use non-rhizomatous Tall Fescue.
When to Plant Your Wildflowers
Wildflowers can be planted either in the early Spring, when most people are planting their garden or in the Fall (dormant seeding) when Mother Nature does her planting. For Spring planting, sow one month prior to the date of last hard freeze and gently water the area for the first month or so (unless Spring rains do it for you) to enhance germination. The freeze-thaw cycles help to break the dormancy of some species for better germination when the temperatures/light and moisture are correct.
For late Fall planting, simply scatter the seed on top of the soil and rake the seed into the soil when freezing nighttime temperatures are consistent, lightly mulch the area, water once to get good soil contact and forget. The seeds will remain dormant through the winter and germinate the following spring when the soil warms and the days are longer.
In more temperate zones, sowing at other times of the year can be successful. Plan to sow seeds for germination during the cool, moist time of year to allow the plants to become well established before the hot, dry season.
Maintenance and What to Expect
The first season after planting your wildflower mix, you should see the brilliant colors of the annuals, since they are the species that will bloom the first season. They will reseed themselves, but will not be as abundant the following year.
The perennial species in the mix will take the first year or two to expand their root systems and become well established. You should see the blooms of the perennials beginning in the second or third years.
Once established, taking care of your wildflower garden is a must. Take time to evaluate your site. Do some of the species do better in one area rather than another? Purchase some of those seeds to augment the more favorable spots for that species for a stronger showing.
In the early spring of the second year sow some All Annuals Mix over the site to continue a strong showing of the annual species that were so brilliant the first season.