Wildflower Lawn Seed
By reducing the amount of cutting in spring and summer, garden lawns can easily be converted into a spectacular display of pretty low-growing wildflowers. By introducing nectar and pollen rich native species, wildflower lawns provide a valuable habitat and food source for visiting Butterflies and Bees. Over the years many customers have asked us for advice about how to turn a lawn into a wildflower meadow and broadly speaking there are 2 completely different approaches.
Method 1. Remove existing grass and sow with wildflower lawn seed and meadow grass.
Many lawns contain hard wearing grasses such as Rye that are designed to be tough and hard wearing. Unfortunately such grasses are not ideal for combining with wildflowers. Removing the existing lawn grass enables the area to be re-sown with a mix of wildflowers and finer meadow grasses such as bents and fescues. These varieties are generally much more receptive to the establishment of wildflowers. If you decide to use this method then it is necessary to remove all trace of rye grass. The best way of doing this is to use a herbicide such as roundup that will be effective at removing all grass including any live roots.
Method 2. Over-sow existing lawn grass with wildflower lawn seed.
If it is not possible to remove the existing lawn grass, then it will be necessary to over-sow the lawn. On our website we offer a variety Wildflower seed selections including a Wildflower Lawn seed selection which contains tough species such as Yarrow, Self-heal and Cowslips. These species are among a few wild flowers that will grow well in lawn grass and can tolerate regular low mowing. In fact they are often found growing naturally in garden lawns but sadly, are all too often regarded as weeds. The success of this technique is limited and depends on the growing conditions and the type of grasses into which the Wild Flowers are introduced. Because this method is little less reliable, extra care will be needed with sowing and aftercare to ensure successful establishment of wildflower seedlings. Our advice is as follows:
Any existing grass should first be cut as low as possible.
Rake to remove cuttings and surface moss.
If necessary create a few bare patches.
Sow seed at a rate of approximately 5 gms per sq. metre, ensuring good soil contact.
Rake in well and water with a fine hose.
Cut regularly during the first year and remove any unwanted weeds as soon as they appear.
DO NOT USE ANY FERTILIZER DURING THIS PROCESS.
Use of Wildflower Plug Plants
For mini-meadows of very small areas less than 25 sq. metres we recommend the use of wildflower plant plugs instead of seed.
We offer a selection of wildflower plugs for meadows that are ideal for this purpose.
Other suitable wildflowers for lawns
There are many other native wildflowers suitable for wildflower lawns and the following low growing species are available to purchase from our website as individual wildflower seed packets.
Wild Red Clover, Wild White Clover, Lesser Trefoil, Black Medick, Field Forget-me-Not, Field Pansy, Lawn Daisy, Dandelion, Autumn hawkbit, Rough Hawkbit, Bulbvous Buttercup, Common Catsear, Salad Burnet.