Want to Go Au Natural? Consider a Wildflower Garden

By gardener | May 14, 2009

If you like a natural landscape, consider planting a wildflower garden. Wildflowers are a lovely and gentle way to practice the hobby of gardening, and the variety of wildflowers available is stunning.

However, going natural doesnt mean you wont have to do any worka healthy wildflower garden requires a lot more than simply scattering a few seeds from a can of wildflower seed mix and letting nature take its course. In fact, even though wildflowers may grow of their own accord along roadsides, in ditches and other unattended areas, deliberately growing a wildflower garden can be more work than a perennial gardenand wildflower gardens do not necessarily reseed themselves year after year.

Wildflower varieties that are easy to grow include Black-eyed Susan, Purple Coneflower, Columbine, Blue Chicory, and Blanket Flower. Seeds for these are readily available at garden centers, where you can also purchase wildflower mixes. However, buying individual seed packets and mixing the seed yourself as you plant is the better way to go as mixes can be unreliable germinators.

Prepare the soil well. If you plan to plant your wildflowers randomly, scrape off the top layer of sod from the areas that you want to plant. Loosen the soil using a rake, scatter your seeds generously and cover with a light layer of potting soil, then water gently but thoroughly.

Unless your area is getting at least an inch of rain per week, youll need to keep watering until the wildflower seeds have absorbed enough moisture to germinate and crack their shells. Once you see the beginnings of your plants peeping through the soil, you can reduce watering unless the area where you live becomes very hot or dry before plants are well established.

You must also be vigilant about removing weeds from your wildflower areas because weeds grow much more vigorously than do wildflowers. Unless you keep the area well weeded, the weeds will crowd out your flowers and take most of the soil nutrients. When your wildflowers reach a height of about four to six inches you should give them some liquid or granular plant food to encourage continued growth and blossoming. Feeding them about once every six weeks after that will help ensure you enjoy wildflower blossoms all summer long. However, because most wildflowers are almost amazingly resistant to insects and disease, you should not have to worry about these problems. Just get them off to a good start, provide water and food at regular intervals and enjoy watching them grow!

Allow wildflowers to die back naturally in the fall to encourage them to reseed themselves for the following year. Though such automatic reseeding will not guarantee a crop of wildflowers the following year, the odds are that at least some will sprout again in the spring and it will be less of a financial investment the following year.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!