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Planting Wildflowers in Your Garden

Although technically defined as a flower not intentionally planted, a wildflower more generally refers to a mix of seeds that can easily be scattered over a garden. Wildflower seed packets can be purchased at garden centers. Wildflowers are vigorous, self-reproducing flowers that require little attention from a gardener.

Plant experts typically discourage gardeners from using the term wildflowers because it is a misnomer. Wildflowers don't necessarily refer to native species. The term instead refers to their ability to grow wild on their own. Consequently, planting wildflowers in your garden is an easy, inexpensive way to maintain difficult areas of a garden.

Using Wildflower Plants in the Garden

The wildflower plants that are found in North America are plants that have evolved over years in regions with long, cold winters and hot, dry summers.

Once wildflower perennials are established, they thrive in ordinary soil without watering, and also attract butterflies and seed-eating birds. If you’re planning to use wildflowers in your garden, you should take some preparatory steps before you start the project.

Start with a clean, weed-free planting location that has plenty of sun for the plants to grow. You don’t have to be too particular when planting wildflowers: any sunny, level site is suitable for planting wildflowers. However, the site that you choose should have at least six hours of sun a day.

The best time to plant wildflowers is the spring. Planting wildflowers in the spring will give the root systems enough time to become firmly established. Wildflowers are generally summer flowers and require about eight to twelve inches of space along with a fair amount of water.

After you have the plants in the ground, mulch with three to four inches of straw to help keep the soil moist and prevent weeds from germinating. After laying the mulch, water until the wildflowers begin to sprout, especially if you're not getting any rainfall.

Although wildflowers don't require much pruning or replanting, you should still remove weeds, especially during the first few growing seasons. Once established, wildflowers have some natural defenses when it comes to weeds. When the new growing season begins, cut the plants back in the early spring and remove the cut material to expose the soil to the sun to help warm it.

Types of Wildflower Plants

You’ll find literally hundreds of wildflower plants that grow in the wild or that can be grown in your garden at home. The following is a list of common wildflowers that are also summer flowers:

The black-eyed Susanproduces yellow flowers from mid-summer to early fall.
The butterfly weed has orange flowers that bloom in mid-summer.
The heath aster produces tiny white flowers in late summer to early fall.
The lance-leaf coreopsis sprouts yellow flowers in mid-summer.
The prairie dock produces large, showy leaves, along with yellow flowers in mid-summer.
The purple coneflower has mauve-pink flowers starting in mid-summer.
The pale purple coneflower sprouts very light mauve-pink flowers with drooping petals in mid-summer.
The smooth penstemon produces white flowers in early summer.

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