5 Tips for Starting a Wildflower Garden

You don’t need to have a huge yard or meadow at your disposal to grow a little wildflower garden. Wildflowers are a joy to see out in nature. They can be spotted along roadsides and spied beside trails in the woods. But, it needn’t stop there. See if you can spare a little spot at home to plant a few native wildflowers.

Break up the monotony and damage that row after row of lawns can cause and bring back a little color, texture, food, and habitat for the local pollinators with a wildflower garden. The benefits are great for you, wildlife, and the planet.

Why Grow Native Wildflowers?

Source: GrowVeg/YouTube

Growing native plants in their specific region is beneficial in that local pollinators are adapted to work with said flowers. Some pollinators rely on very specific flowers for food, habitat, and egg-laying.

While many different flowers can provide food to an array of bees and butterflies, some require certain plants. The monarch butterfly, for example, searches out milkweed in order to lay their eggs. Their larvae eat only the leaves of this plant.

Native plants are also adept at growing in certain climates and soil conditions. Native plants are much better at just surviving without a bunch of human intervention, interference, or maintenance. Wildflowers can often grow quite well in poor soil and are not too fussy about needing to be watered, pruned, or messed with in any way. They also don’t require special fertilization and are often hardened to local pests.

This makes for a beautiful space without too much work to do, and that will give you more time to tend some tomatoes! If you live in a neighborhood of ‘perfect’ lawns, and chemical-dependant shrubbery, a wildflower garden will be a saving grace to passing bees, butterflies, and neighbors.

1. Pick the Right Seeds or Plants

Check your growing zone, first of all. Then, ask local nurseries and experts about which wildflowers grow in your area. There are a few classics that have a really good range right across the USA, but it isn’t foolproof, so you will need to check.

Still, if you are stabbing in the dark here, take a look at the possibility of growing black-eyed Susans, echinacea, cardinal flowers, milkweed, beebalm, joe-Pye weed, fireweed, ironweed, and yarrow.

Remember, though, that just because something is a wildflower in one area does not mean that it will thrive in your area. The idea here is to grow what naturally grows in your region.

2. Pick Plants That Have Successional Blooming

If you are buying individual plants rather than a packet of mixed seeds, try to find plants that bloom at different times of the growing season. This way, pollinators will have food all season long, and you will have a pretty colorful garden all season long, too.

3. Choose a Mix of Annual and Perennials

Choosing some perennials for your site will mean that you won’t have to keep sowing or planting each year. The perennials will become well adapted to their new site and will need less and less fuss as the years pass.

Annuals will add fast color and texture to the site and will likely self-seed profusely, meaning that you won’t have to keep forking out for seeds or new plants.

4. Pick an Appropriate Growing Spot

Source: Flower Hill Farm/YouTube

If you have bought a mixed seed packet, read the instructions to see what kind of light they need. Follow this carefully. A lot of wildflowers need full sun and at least 6 hours of it a day. If you have bought individual plants, you can do a little research on them to find out what growing conditions they enjoy.

5. Prepare the Site Well

Though we see wildflowers popping up through untamed meadows, that does not mean that you can throw a seed packet out in the middle of a lawn or field and expect them to grow. The plants and grasses already in place will last definitely win out over the newcomers.

Instead, you will need to prepare an area for your seeds. This might involve removing an area of turf and pulling out lingering weeds and roots. You need to give your new seeds a fighting chance and opportunity to take hold of the area. At least in their first year, you will have to keep on top of ‘weeds’ to help your wildflowers get a stronghold.

Bonus Tip

If you have a lawn, how about trying to leave an area of it alone to see what grows? No watering, no weeding, no walking, and definitely no lawnmowers! You might be surprised at what pops when you just leave it to nature.

Related Content:

• 10 Ways to Save Pollinators and Protect Our Food Supply
• Pollinators and Other Insect Populations Have Dropped 75% in the Past 25 Years – Here’s How You Can Help
• What to Plant in Your Garden to Help Save the Bees
• 10 Plants That Will Help Attract Bees to Your Garden in the Spring
• The Ins and Outs of Butterfly Gardens

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