Wildflower meadow attracts butterflies and birds.

Wildflower meadows have only one strict requirement, sun. A successful meadow depends on full sun exposure for a minimum of 6 hours.

Fortunately, for most homeowners, wildflowers will thrive in average to poor soils with little need for amending. That’s what makes wildflowers some of our favorite plants, low maintenance and virtually carefree once established. The initial creation of the meadow requires typical gardening practices.

Getting Started

First choose that sunny site. After site selection, clear the soil of any competing vegetation, especially lawn grasses, which will choke out the meadow later if not handled now. If able, till the soil. If you do not have the resources to till, use a garden rake to tear up the surface soil. Your meadow’s seedbed is now ready.

Now lets discuss wildflower seeds and plants to include. Surprisingly, grasses should be a starting point. Although lawn grasses will choke wildflowers, other native and ornamental grasses are welcome in the meadow. Such grasses give the wildflower meadow a more natural appearance, help stabilize the soil and often supports taller members. Warm season grasses work the best.

Take note, grasses are rarely included in store bought seed mixes. One commonly recommended grass suited to most regions of the USA is Sheep’s Fescue. However, we are fortunate to have broomsedge, switchgrass and other natives in our chosen sites. Whether you choose to add clumps of established plants or add grass via seeding, be sure to include those grasses found beneficial to wildlife as a whole.

To learn more on ornamental grasses go here

The main course of the meadow is flowers. You should look to include both annuals and perennials in the meadow. The easiest method by far is seeding. However, before you go out and buy a shaker can of wildflower seeds, you should know a few things. Store bought mixes often include many seeds unsuited to the region purchased in. So look for a mix formulated for your region. Most all seed mixes contain annuals and perennials, mixed approximately 80-20 % respectively.

Perennials will bloom the second year and should prosper every year after. However, expect to reseed annuals for a few seasons to get the flamboyant color of the meadow’s first season. Perennials and many annuals will self sow further thickening the meadow.

Don’t discount bulbs when planning your meadow. Prior to preparing the bed for seeding, add some daffodils, hyacinths, irises and lilies. Such no fail favorites will add dimension to the meadow and many naturalize easily.

When using seed to establish a new meadow, sow at twice the rate recommended. Example: If your meadow area is equal to 1000 sq ft. and one package of seed mix covers 1000 sq ft, use two packages to get the best results.

Here’s a great tip, use sand. Due to the typically small nature of most wildflower seeds, mixing with DRY sand aids in even distribution of seed. Once seeded, lightly rake into the soil, or better lightly cover with loose soil. Do not bury wildflowers seeds deeper than ¼ inch.

If you are the impatient type of gardener, then certainly you can establish a meadow with container grown or bareroot perennials in addition to seeding. This approach is quite costly, however, if funds aren’t an issue, you will realize a mature meadow sooner.

Keep your newly planted wildflower meadow moist. Watch for known aggressive and unwanted weeds. Many plants considered weeds are well suited to the meadow, but watch out for Johnson grass, bindweed or morning glories, and other extremely invasive species.

General Maintenance

Weeding diligently that first year will save you time later and reward you with a more prosperous meadow.

Every winter when the wildflower meadow appears spent, cut it back to 6-8 inches high. This aids in seed dispersion and keeping unwanted woody species out, such as saplings. The best tool to accomplish the meadow cutting is an old fashioned swing blade. A lawnmower will only work if the model allows for raising to accommodate the six inch preferred cutting height.

Now, we’ve reviewed grasses, discussed bulbs, annuals and perennials, but still you may be wondering which plants exactly are best suited for such a meadow.

Here are those we recommend:

Yarrows, asters, goldenrod, black-eyed Susan, purple and yellow coneflowers, blanket flower, coreopsis, gay feather, beebalm, poppies, and clovers. In addition to the aforementioned bulbs, these flowers have proved terrific performers, even through our hottest drought ridden summers.

Grasses, we recommend are broomsedge, switch grass, little bluestem, grains and non lawn fescues.

By following the guidelines above you will realize success in establishing a wildflower meadow. Be creative with meadows, plant mini meadows. Consider areas such as along driveways, sun parched barren areas of the landscape or any other difficult area that receives sun. Soon you will have butterflies and birds flocking amongst the blooms.

More terrific ideas for attracting birds, butterflies and wildlife can be found within our site, for example, see attracting backyard birds.