Growing Wildflower Seeds

Before we know it, our gardens will surprise us with a lovely carpet of grass, nature’s way of telling us it’s time to get on our gardening gear and start to work.  Another year, another season, yet the same perennial problem….grass, and what to do about it.

If it’s in your lawn, then I suppose it is a welcome treat to see green once again, and get out the lawnmower and cut the lawn. I love the smell of freshly cut grass, as long as it’s not emanating from my weed-whacker!  In many areas of the country, lawns go dormant during the colder times of the year. This is when the plant’s systems shut down. They don’t grow, they lose color, some even die (or appear to do so), yet with the first warm rays of spring sunshine, they morph back into a recognizable plant. Read the rest of this post »

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In my conversations with customers over the years, I’ve found that there is a definite preference towards perennials. If it’s not a perennial it doesn’t appear to have much worth in their eyes, yet nothing could be further from the truth.

Sure, perennials are good. They have numerous positive qualities, but so do annuals. They just behave differently! And what is a “bi-annual?” I’ll address that in a moment, but first a comparison between the annuals and perennials and a look at why both offer good values to the home gardener.

What are the differences?

The basic difference is that once a perennial is planted, it will come back year after year from the original plant. True, the plant may go dormant during the colder parts of the year, but it won’t die out. The roots live on even though the plant looks dead! In the spring, the roots awaken and put up new shoots. Many perennial wildflowers live a number of years before they begin to die out. Some live longer lives than others. Typically the shrubs live much longer than do the flowers. The harder the wood (in the stem) the longer-lived the plant will be.

The Wildflower Booster Pack is a product that will punch up your existing meadow with loads of spectacular color! For more information, see Wildflower Booster Pack.

Another basic difference between a perennial wildflower and an annual one is that the first year, the perennial does not usually bloom. Read the rest of this post »

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One of the most common problems customers have when planting wildflowers is figuring out just how much to plant. I suppose that the common thought is “the more seed we plant, the more beautiful blooms we are going to get!” Nothing could be further from the truth!

When I was about 9 years old, we were in the middle of building our own house. My job was to pick up bent nails and straighten them. For this I got a penny for every ten that were re-usable. I quickly got bored with this, having also run out of nails to straighten, so I wanted to get on with bigger and better things.

My father, who was serving as the general contractor, told me that I could hammer the nails into the plywood sub-flooring, but this time I got a penny for every one that I nailed into the floor. He drew out the lines, which represented where I was to nail, and I began.

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