Sow Your Wild Side With Wildflowers

If you are the type of gardener who likes to make a daring statement with your home, then take a walk on the "wild" side with wildflowers.

Wildflowers make wonderful gardening accents in many areas. They are best displayed in broad borders and large open spaces. Daylilies along a roadside fence, bachelor's buttons by the driveway, or larkspur beside a pond can transform a beautiful landscape into a breathtaking one.

Many people use wildflowers in areas they do not want to heavily maintain. I know of a church that had a considerable amount of property behind its parish which the congregation did not want to regularly mow. They solved their problem by sowing a mix of wildflowers, which could be left almost unattended. The result was a natural and lovely garden-like area.

Most wildflower seed is packaged as mixed varieties of perennials, biennials and annuals. Each type of flower in the blend generally blossoms for only two to four weeks at a time. However, the various plants usually blossoms at different times, resulting in virtually perpetual color during the growing season.

Although the seed is usually packaged as a blend, individual wildflower species are also available. Another popular planting method is the use of wildflower sod, which is laid out much like grass sod. Seed and possibly sod are available through your local garden center.

Before wildflowers became commercially packaged, they could only be found in their natural setting and then transplanted, or you could collect the seed and leave the plant in its natural setting.

Contrary to popular opinion, growing wildflowers takes more than just tossing seeds out over a given area. The soil should be cultivated to about three or more inches deep. Peat moss or fertilizer is generally not needed. But they won't hurt. Great care must be taken to spread the seed out at the recommended rates or the end result may be sparse and spotty or too dense a planting.

Another reason for taking great caution when sowing wildflower seed is because it could easily blow into the next yard. What you may consider a wildflower, your neighbor might call a weed. Weeds are actually plants that are unwanted because they are out of place, so a stray wildflower seed could very well become an unwelcome addition to your neighbor's property.

After one to three years of growth, wildflowers should become more self-sustaining. They may need occasional fertilizing or a late season mowing, but not much more care.

Wildflowers are a carefree way to be different. So make a statement with your property and take a walk on the "wild" side.