Growing wildflowers

[AMKuska]

Hello all,
This year my son will be raising Painted Lady butterflies as part of a science project. We've purchased a ton of wildflower seed packages native to this area, as well as a seed package for Asters since apparently they particularly like those. The seed instructions basically said to just fling them to the winds and cross your fingers. Eh...is that for real what you do? I can't start them indoors?

 

[R2elk]

Hello all,
This year my son will be raising Painted Lady butterflies as part of a science project. We've purchased a ton of wildflower seed packages native to this area, as well as a seed package for Asters since apparently they particularly like those. The seed instructions basically said to just fling them to the winds and cross your fingers. Eh...is that for real what you do? I can't start them indoors?

It's pretty much for real for what I do. You can start them indoors but they don't all require the same treatment for success. Some need stratification while others don't.

Google the different varieties for instructions.

 

[flowerbug]

It's pretty much for real for what I do. You can start them indoors but they don't all require the same treatment for success. Some need stratification while others don't.

Google the different varieties for instructions.

yes, that's about the same i would say.

think about what wildflowers usually do, they're often colonizers of disturbed spaces and poorer soils or marginal locations that other faster growing plants can't tolerate. so perhaps some of the growing mediums might be poorer soils or sandier or more compacted or more pebbly or ...

the thing i certainly do recommend is to start things in pots if you can so you can be sure that if the plant is invasive or takes a few years to get established you can keep a better eye on it..

 

[Ridgerunner]

I can't start them indoors?

I take this to be a question, "can you start them indoors"? Yes, you can. You can research how to do that with asters as well as I can. If you know which wildflowers you have you can research those too. Some wildflowers may not take transplanting that well, especially if they have a long taproot that gets disturbed. If I didn't know better by knowing varieties I'd try to grow them in a way that you can transplant them with as little root disturbance as possible. Maybe grow them in pots where the roots can grow through the pot material? And don't take them outside until frost danger is past.

The seed instructions basically said to just fling them to the winds and cross your fingers. Eh...is that for real what you do?

I think those instructions are more for people that want them to grow in areas where you aren't going to mow or mow much at all. Not in a prepared flower bed. You could still do that in a prepared flower bed but one of the issues is that you might not know what is a "weed" so what do you pull to keep the competition down. I would not know what all wild flowers look like when they are young especially. Some yeah but not all.

 

[AMKuska]

I take this to be a question, "can you start them indoors"? Yes, you can. You can research how to do that with asters as well as I can. If you know which wildflowers you have you can research those too. Some wildflowers may not take transplanting that well, especially if they have a long taproot that gets disturbed. If I didn't know better by knowing varieties I'd try to grow them in a way that you can transplant them with as little root disturbance as possible. Maybe grow them in pots where the roots can grow through the pot material? And don't take them outside until frost danger is past.


I think those instructions are more for people that want them to grow in areas where you aren't going to mow or mow much at all. Not in a prepared flower bed. You could still do that in a prepared flower bed but one of the issues is that you might not know what is a "weed" so what do you pull to keep the competition down. I would not know what all wild flowers look like when they are young especially. Some yeah but not all.

Thanks. Actually, I am taking some roses out of a rose bed and wanted to plant them there. I was hoping to choose which height flower went where, but actually if they grow that easily I'll just lay the seeds on thick and trim anything that gets too tall.