Does your grass lawn make you yawn? Do you want to add more color to your landscape and help out pollinators at the same time? Then, you may want to consider growing a wildflower meadow or converting your grass lawn to wildflowers!
Wildflowers, like yarrow and black-eyed Susan, look lovely in flower beds and they can liven up porch planters, but wildflowers can also be used as an alternative to grass.
Entire grass lawns can be swapped out for native wildflowers, or wildflowers can be planted in patches in out-of-the-way spots or used to cover up unsightly hillsides and other areas that are difficult to mow. No matter where you decide to grow your wildflower patch, this planting guide will help get you started!
Jump to:
- Why grow a wildflower meadow?
- How to convert your lawn into a wildflower meadow in 12 steps
- 1. Check with local ordinances.
- 2. Select a good planting spot.
- 3. Choose your seeds.
- 4. Know when to plant.
- 5. Remove existing grass.
- 6. Prepare the soil.
- 7. Calculate how much seed you’ll need.
- 8. Add sand (optional).
- 9. Scatter your wildflower seeds.
- 10. Press the seeds in.
- 11. Add water.
- 12. Be patient.
- Maintaining your wildflower meadow through the seasons
- What wildflowers grow well in a wildflower meadow?
- Frequently asked questions
- Can I just sprinkle wildflower seeds?
- Can I put mulch on top of wildflower seeds?
- Will wildflowers crowd out grass?
- Why do you mow wildflowers?
- Do wildflowers come back every year?
- How long does it take for wildflowers to establish?
- Summary
Why grow a wildflower meadow?
With their bright colors and graceful stems, wildflowers are a treat for the eyes. But there are more reasons to grow a wildflower meadow than simply aesthetics.
If you keep a standard grass lawn, you know how much work grass can be. Turf grass needs to be mowed, aerated, fertilized, and watered, and sometimes, even with the best care, grass lawns can still turn yellow and look unkempt.
Compared to grass, wildflower meadows are much lower maintenance, and they don’t need to be mowed often or fertilized… and established meadows typically don’t need to be watered either!
Aside from how easy wildflowers are to keep, growing wildflowers either as a lawn alternative or as a dedicated wildflower meadow is also an excellent way to help out pollinators.
Today, due to habitat loss and the overuse of pesticides, many pollinator populations are plummeting. But if you grow a wildflower meadow or a patch of wildflowers, you will provide much-needed food resources and shelter for native bees, butterflies, beetles, songbirds, chipmunks, and other critters, too!
How to convert your lawn into a wildflower meadow in 12 steps
Wildflowers can certainly be grown in your lawn or garden, but wildflowers also make elegant and low-maintenance solutions for hellstrip spaces, median strips, and unsightly vacant lots.
Depending on your growing space, you may not need to do much prep work before planting wildflower seeds. But if you want to give your wildflowers an advantage and help them become established as quickly as possible, the steps below will do just that!
1. Check with local ordinances.
One of the biggest hurdles wildflower gardeners often face is the potential for opposition from neighbors, HOAs, and your local town. Wildflower gardening has been catching on in recent years, so you may not run into any trouble.
But some people are still in the habit of associating wildflowers with weeds, and you may need to chat with these naysayers so they, too, can discover the beauty and utility of growing wildflowers!
If you belong to an HOA or similar organization, it’s always wise to check with your HOA guidelines to make sure that there aren’t any restrictions about the types of plants you can grow in your garden.
After all, you don’t want to invest in wildflower seeds and then receive a notice in the mail that you need to pull up your wildflower garden! If you do find restrictions listed in your HOA guidelines, don’t despair.
Sometimes, you can convert HOA members to wildflower enthusiasts by simply explaining the perks of wildflower gardening. However, if you are still facing pushback about wildflowers, you may want to bring the issue to the attention of your town hall. If all else fails and you are strictly forbidden from making a wildflower lawn, you can usually still plant wildflowers in a dedicated flowerbed!
2. Select a good planting spot.
Once you’re ready to start planting your wildflower patch or meadow, you’ll need to scout your property for a good growing location. One of the best things about wildflowers is that they are super adaptable, and they don’t really need fertile soil to grow well, although any location you select should still be well-draining and not boggy (unless you’re growing water-loving wildflowers!).
Locations that receive full sun to part afternoon shade tend to work brilliantly for most wildflowers, although you can track down some shade-loving species that will grow in lower light conditions.
Because wildflowers are so low maintenance, they can be grown in out-of-the-way spots that are difficult to mow, or they can be planted on steep hillsides for erosion prevention. One of the most popular places to grow wildflowers is on a new or existing lawn, but wildflowers can also be cultivated in dedicated wildflower beds.
Wildflowers look particularly charming when planted along garden fences, property lines, and forest margins. Just keep in mind that wildflowers should be planted far from any spot where pesticides and herbicides are used. Pollinators actively forage from wildflower blooms, so you will want to keep these beneficial insects safe by keeping your wildflower patch as organic as possible!
3. Choose your seeds.
Many seed companies and grass companies sell wildflower seed mixes that can be used as grass alternatives or for growing a larger-scale wildflower meadow. Often, these seed mixes are specially curated for specific growing regions – such as the Pacific Northwest – with wildflower seeds that are native to that particular growing zone.
The beauty of purchasing regional wildflower mixes is that you’ll get an assortment of different seeds, and those seeds will all be well-adapted to your local climate and weather patterns.
Growing wildflower from seeds is more cost-effective than planting wildflower plugs or potted plants, but you can also go this route if you want to get flowers more quickly. Another option is to gather your own wildflower seeds in the wild and plant those foraged seeds for free! If you do forage for your own wildflower seeds, make sure you have the proper permissions to gather seeds from landowners; only gather up to 1/10 of the seeds you see and leave some seeds behind so the wildflower plants can self sow and continue to feed wild birds.
4. Know when to plant.
Wildflowers can be planted at almost any time of the year, but the absolute best time to plant wildflowers is in autumn. Most wildflowers require cold stratification to germinate properly, and if you plant seeds during the warmer months, you may experience lower germination rates.
Wild plants naturally drop their seeds in autumn, and if you plant your seeds in autumn, too, those seeds will cold stratify over the winter months and sprout prolifically when spring arrives.
In areas with mild winters, you can often plant seeds in early fall. However, if you live in a spot where winters get frigid, it’s best to plant your seeds after a hard frost or two. Of course, you’ll want to prep your planting spot while the ground is still workable, but if you wait until after the ground freezes to plant your seeds, you’ll reduce the chances that those seeds will be lost to rot or animal predation.
5. Remove existing grass.
If you’re growing wildflowers in a flowerbed or you’re starting a new wildflower lawn over bare soil, you may not need to remove any grass or weeds. But if you intend to sow wildflowers over an area that is currently covered in weeds or grass, you’ll need to get rid of those plants first. Wildflowers may be vigorous growers, but young wildflower seedlings have a hard time competing against established grass!
Grass can be removed with a sod cutter, or you can smother out existing grass and weeds using black plastic or layers of cardboard. Both options will work quite well, although smothering grass tends to be easier on your back and more budget-friendly, too!
To smother grass with black plastic or cardboard, first, cut your grass as low as possible with your lawnmower and then spread a layer of plastic sheeting or cardboard over the grass you’d like to remove.
Make sure the edges of your covering are overlapping to keep grass plants from poking through, and then leave the covering in place for about 2 to 3 months. By the time you remove the grass covering, all of your old grass plants will have died back, and you’ll just need to rake up the debris to make planting easier.
Sod cutters work more quickly than grass smothering, so they are the best option if you’re in a hurry to plant wildflowers. However, if you have the time to smother grass the old-fashioned way, you can install your black plastic sheeting or cardboard over grass in summer, and the spot should be ready for planting wildflowers by fall!
6. Prepare the soil.
Once you’ve removed the existing grass around the area where you’d like to plant, you’ll want to rake any debris that remains on the soil line. Grass, leaves and other plant matter can be added to your compost pile, but if you leave it in place, it may make it harder for your wildflower seeds to set root.
After raking up the soil, remove any large rocks that you see and smooth out uneven spots if needed. You can decide to sprinkle a bit of compost over your planting area and aerate the soil, too, but this isn’t really necessary. Most wildflower seeds are perfectly happy growing in low-fertility soil, and adding too much compost to wildflower planting areas can actually cause plants to become leggy and weak.
7. Calculate how much seed you’ll need.
With your soil prepped and ready to go, it’s time to order your wildflower seeds. But how many seeds will you need?
Bulk wildflower seed packages typically have planting instructions that will tell you how much seed you’ll need for your specific growing space. But a good rule of thumb is that you’ll need about ½ pound of wildflower seeds for every 1000 square feet of growing space.
8. Add sand (optional).
Wildflower seeds can be planted on their own, but you’ll get even better results if you mix wildflower seeds with sand before sowing. If you hunt around, you may even be able to purchase wildflower seed mixes with the sand already added in!
Because wildflower seeds are lightweight and generally dark in color, they can be difficult to apply on their own, but adding sand makes seeds much quicker to disperse. What’s more, the lighter color of the sand grains makes it easier to see where you’ve sprinkled your wildflower seeds on dark soil.
If you decide to mix your wildflower seeds with sand, add 4 parts of dry, fine-grained sand for every 1 part of wildflower seeds to a bucket. Then, mix the seeds and sand together well with your hands or a clean hand trowel.
9. Scatter your wildflower seeds.
When you’re finally ready to plant your seeds, check your weather forecast and plant your seeds on a day when there isn’t a lot of wind. Windy weather can blow seeds around and make them much harder to plant. It’s also a good idea to plant seeds right before expected rain, but this isn’t required.
Most gardeners choose to plant wildflower seeds by hand, but if you have a large lot to cover, you may want to use a broadcast spreader instead.
To plant your seeds, divide your seed quantity in half and then scatter the first half of your seeds across your soil using a gentle sweeping motion of your arm while walking slowly in one direction – north to south, for instance.
Once you’ve covered your planting location with those seeds, grab the second half of your seeds and scatter those seeds while walking in the opposite direction – east to west.
By planting seeds in two passes, you’ll essentially create a checkerboard of seeds and sand across your lawn or garden. This will ensure that you cover all of your soil and help spread out your seeds so they aren’t planted too thickly together.
10. Press the seeds in.
Wildflower seeds shouldn’t be covered with soil since most wildflowers need light to germinate. But seeds will sprout better if they’re gently pressed into the soil. This creates more contact between the seeds and the soil and helps seeds absorb moisture better and resist windy weather.
You can press seeds into your soil by gently walking on them, lightly raking them in, or using a lawn roller. Once this is done, you can move on to the next step or add a thin layer of straw over your planting area. Straw isn’t always necessary, but it can help shelter your seeds from rough weather and bird predation, and it’s particularly useful on steep hillsides where seeds may be more likely to wash away during rain.
11. Add water.
Like any other plant, wildflowers need a bit of water to jumpstart their growing, so pull out your garden hose and gently water your seeds in after they’re planted. If you plant wildflower seeds in spring or summer, you’ll want to continue to water your seeds once or twice a week.
However, if you plant seeds in autumn after the ground freezes, you typically won’t need to worry about watering your seeds until they germinate in spring.
12. Be patient.
Every gardener knows that feeling of excitement that occurs after planting seeds. We’re just so impatient for them to sprout so we can see the product of all of our hard work! However, when it comes to growing wildflowers, patience is particularly important since wildflowers can be slow growers.
If you plant a mixture of annuals, biennials, and perennials, you’ll likely get annual blooms during your first growing season. But biennials and perennials may take 2 to 3 years to flower. You can enjoy annual blooms during this time, but don’t get discouraged if your wildflower patch doesn’t look completely filled in after a year or two!
During the second or third year of growing wildflowers, you may want to fill in any sparse areas of your wildflower meadow with plant plugs or more wildflower seeds. Alternatively, you can wait for your wildflowers to fill in on their own. Once they get started, most wildflower plants will naturally self-sow seeds too!
Maintaining your wildflower meadow through the seasons
Wildflower meadows don’t need much fuss, but they do need a bit of help to get started. When wildflower seeds first germinate, they should be watered regularly so that the soil stays consistently moist but not soggy. Once seedlings grow to about 4 to 6” tall, you can typically taper off watering, but wildflower meadows should still be watered with about 1” of water per week during their first year of growth.
Wildflower meadows that are over 1 year old can typically get by with rainfall alone, but they will need to be mowed from time to time to keep larger plants, like trees and raspberry canes, from creeping in.
The best time to mow wildflower fields is in late fall after the wildflowers have dropped their seeds. Some gardeners mow their wildflower fields in spring, but this isn’t the best idea as animals may be nesting at this time of the year.
When mowing wildflowers, set your lawnmower at the highest setting – typically 4 to 6” high. Cutting wildflowers down lower than this is not recommended, as it can damage the root systems of certain plants.
Because you won’t be mowing wildflower fields often, weeds can sometimes creep in. Weeds are less of a problem in established wildflower fields, but you do want to stay on top of weeds – especially when your wildflowers are still young and growing low to the ground.
Weeds should be pulled or cut back as close to the soil line as possible with pruners or scissors before they go to seed, or you can spot treat weeds with a horticultural vinegar spray if that’s easier for you.
Aside from weeding and annual mowing, wildflowers don’t need much attention. These plants are naturally resistant to many pests and diseases, and they rarely need fertilizer. In fact, it’s often best to avoid fertilizing wildflowers as soil that is too rich can make plant stems weaker and more prone to flopping over.
What wildflowers grow well in a wildflower meadow?
Many different wildflowers – including biennials, perennials, and annuals – can be grown in wildflower meadows. Native grasses are also good options for wildflower beds, and natural wildflower meadows often contain up to 80% grasses and 20% flowers. What plants you choose to grow will vary depending on where you live, but native plants are always a fine choice.
Some popular picks for wildflower meadows include:
- Ox-eye daisies
- Bluets
- Wild rye
- Yarrow
- Yellow rattle
- Black-eyed Susans
- Asters
- Goldenrod
- Self heal
- Milkweed
- Coneflowers
- Sweet vernal grass
- Red clover
- Golden Alexanders
- Wild geranium
- Wood sorrel
- Little bluestem
- Cinquefoil
Frequently asked questions
Can I just sprinkle wildflower seeds?
Technically, you can sprinkle wildflower seeds over the soil, and some may sprout. However, this is not ideal, and young wildflowers may struggle to compete against existing grass and weeds. A better option is to prepare your planting spot by removing weeds first and then planting your wildflower seeds in the fall.
Can I put mulch on top of wildflower seeds?
Yes, you can add lightweight mulches like weed-free straw and pine needles after planting wildflower seeds. These light mulches will help to protect your wildflower seeds from birds, harsh wind, rain, and snow. Just steer clear of heavyweight mulches, like wood or bark mulch, as these products won’t allow wildflower seeds to sprout.
Will wildflowers crowd out grass?
Usually, no. Wildflowers can be prolific growers once they’re established, but most wildflowers don’t compete well against established grasses and weeds.
Why do you mow wildflowers?
Wildflower meadows should be mowed once or twice a year to keep larger plants, like berry canes and trees, from intruding. If wildflower meadows are left to their own devices, trees will slowly begin to creep in, and meadows will typically revert back into forests over time.
Do wildflowers come back every year?
Usually, yes. Perennial wildflowers survive the winter, and they do come back year after year. Annual plants only live for one year, and biennial plants live for two years, but most wildflowers that fall into these categories will naturally self-sow if you don’t deadhead their spent blooms.
How long does it take for wildflowers to establish?
Annual wildflowers may look great during their first year of growth, but biennials and perennials will typically need 2 or even 3 years to fill in. By year 3, your wildflower meadow should look quite established, although you may still want to plant more seeds or flower plugs to fill in bald spaces.
Summary
Growing a wildflower meadow or alternative wildflower lawn may take a bit of work at first, but wildflowers will return year after year. Once established, wildflowers will naturally spread over time, and you’ll soon notice an abundance of birds, pollinators, and other wildlife flocking to your wildflower patch. When this occurs, relax on a lawn chair and take in the beauty of your wildflower garden as it unfolds before you in all of its glory!
For even more alternative lawn ideas, check out how to grow a clover lawn for bees or explore the best clover varieties to plant in lawns right here.
Leave a Reply