Topic: wild flower seeds sowing

[nitiram]

Having acquired  several packets of wildflower seeds from the Organic Seed catalogue for Christmas I have a query on how to sow them. I want to mix all five packets together to sow in a random way. I have a thin strip down one side of the lottie that I am planning to turn into a wildflower haven. Can I mix the seeds with a little dry sand so I can see where i have sown them? Can i broadcast sow or do i need to sow in drills etc?

One down side   I see that dandelions and buttercups are included in the seed mixes. As I have no way of telling which is which I will have to pullthem up as soon as i recognise them!

[campanula]

my method is to fling them around in march -although i have done seed sowing in autumn too. and no, don't bother pulling dandelions, their leaves are edible when young and buttercups are just gorgeous. have fun. also, if you are keen on wild flowers, can i recommend chilterns seeds - absolutely the widest variety ever - this year, i am sowing a californian meadow with platystemon, layia, escholzias, phacelia, thelesperma, madia, argemone and chrysanthemum segetum - not all californian i know but....last year, i had an african one with loads of osteospermums, ursinia, arctotis, gazania, gaillardia and felicia. have fun!

[nitiram]

Thanks for the information. There are no flowers on my lottie site so am expecting lots of comments from the others. Checked all the rules and regs and no reason why i can't have flowers. want to attract as much wild life as i can...and they will look pretty too.

[flowerlady]

I say Campanula steady on I've had to rush off for the books to find out what they all look like!!!! ???

Have now gone off to source Chiltern Seeds, they should not be too far from me  ;D

thank you  lady  ;D

[jeanaustin]

Are your wild flower seeds packeted as individual varieties or mixtures?  Are they Annuals or perennials?  Annual wild flowers generally will grow very quickly, perennials not so quickly and if you have them in individual varieties and mix together to sow, the annuals could swamp the perennials.
You mentioned Buttercups (hope these are Meadow Buttercups and not creeping Buttercups) - if you have these as an individual variety you might find it better to sow in a module/cell tray as germination can be slow - some meadow buttercup seeds will germinate within a couple of weeks but others will take several weeks to come through - and then plant out when they have made a good root system.  I grow wild flowers on my lottie and just love them but some annual ones (especially poppies, corn cockle and corn marigold) will self seed very easily into other areas where you might not want them. 
On our site, we have an area which we have established over the past 18 months as a wild flower area - one area as a 'meadow' another area for 'arable' type wild flowers and also there's a bank on which we have primroses (already out in flower), foxgloves and red and white campions as well as other varieties.  There's also an area planted with hazel saplings - to provide us with pea sticks in the future.
I'm sure you'll enjoy your wild flowers - have fun!

[nitiram]

They are packets of mixed seeds, annuals and perennials....

'Wild Bird Mix'
'Scented Mix'
'Plants in Danger'
'Butterfly Mix'
'Bumblebee mIx'
'Easy and colourful'

Do you think it will be Ok to mix them altogether to sow? There are duplications of species in some of the mixes

[jeanaustin]

If I had these mixtures, I would sow the 'plants in danger' and the 'scented mix' seeds in cell seed trays and then plant out when they have good root systems, as I think these might need a little bit more tlc than the other mixtures.
The other mixtures would, I think, be suitable for mixing together and sowing - but beware of what might be included in the 'wild bird' and 'butterfly' mixes - they might contain thistles!  We have several different types of thistles in our wild flower area and they are very attractive to butterflies (for the flowers) and the seeds for the birds but your lottie neighbours may not be too happy about them if they seed onto their plots!
I'm sure you'll have fun growing them and a very interesting and colourful result